Moving Mountains
by im-rite-here
Summary: Rule #25 - 'A shinobi must never show tears.' Rule #34 - 'A shinobi will prepare before it's too late.' "I'm dying," fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, "and it's too late." NaruSaku.
1. Prologue

A/N: Hey everyone! Hows life? Mine? Eh, could be better. Anyways, I am the worst author at updating stories, I know. Please forgive me. But just recently, I started liking NaruSaku. So this is going to be a NaruSaku fic. And with this story, for once, I'm planning to actually be a chapter or two ahead of you guys, so when you're probably reading this, I'll have the next chapter done and ready, hopefully.

I'm planning this story is going to be long, and I'm trying to be every accurate with the information. And incorporate more then just lovey-dovey scenes. This is going to be a story. I'm going to try to make it truthful and try to keep all characters in character. Anyways, enjoy. :)

* * *

**Moving Mountains**

**Prologue**

* * *

_Why do we always run away_

_When we are needed the most._

_Why do we always let fear conquer us_

_When we swore we saw worse._

* * *

"You want what?"

Sakura sighed. She knew she was going to get this reaction the second she thought of the idea. The urge of pinching the bridge of her nose was almost too irresistible, but Sakura resisted. She took a deep breath in, wincing at the pain in her chest, and repeated with bold words.

"I want to leave Konoha."

Tsunade, for once in her lifetime, stared dumbfounded at her apprentice. Her jaw was hanging from her face. Tsunade wanted to laugh out loud if it weren't for Sakura's dead serious face and the low tone of her voice. This was one of the rare moments she was caught off guard. Last time Tsunade recalled, Sakura was bringing back some lab samples she asked earlier, but no.

Tsunade was beginning to lose faith in her ears. "What?"

"I want to _leave_ Konoha," Sakura said slower, emphasizing leave.

Tsunade stared at her student. Had Sakura officially lost it? What made her think that for a moment she was going to agree to this? Wanting grab Sakura and shake her until some sense was shuck into her was powerful, but Tsunade closed her gaping mouth and finally reflected Sakura with some seriousness.

"Why?"

Sakura bit her lip. She had been prepared for this question. How many times did she look at the mirror and practice every word that was going to be her answer. Of course, she knew Tsunade was down right confused about this. Why want to leave all of a sudden. Common sense would be that after everything, Konoha was a better place to live at. After the war. Everything was rebuilt. Buildings stood high, and the villagers stood proud. That after everything, Konoha survived. Konoha made it.

"I feel that I'm in no need of here in Konoha." Sakura bit her bottom lip as she pictured Tsunade aim the pen currently in her hand to Sakura's normal sized forehead.

Tsunade's jaw dropped. "Nonsense! Of course you're at need here. You're one of the best medic and kunoichi here. I don't know why-"

"I can't though," Sakura pleaded. The sternness dripping away from her voice.

Tsunade stared at her student. Sakura was officially declared mental.

As Tsunade examined her student, she noticed Sakura was skinny. Too skinny. Hopefully, it wasn't a new diet. But as a medic, it was clear for Tsunade that Sakura hasn't been eating well - hearing Shizune complain many times that Sakura wasn't eating properly. Visible bags were circling Sakura's eyes that only seemed that it got worse by the day. No sleep. Sakura showed signs to it; clumsiness, irritability, anxiety, lack of focus. Those were all signs of sleep deprivation. Her skin was so pale, that if you put a piece of white paper next to it, it would blend in. Distracted was something Sakura seemed she was at all times. Tsunade lost count how many times she had to repeat calling her name to gain Sakura's attention.

In all sum, even though Sakura looked sick, she could work. A little thin, a little tired. But overall ok.

Tsunade reckoned to Sakura's words. Those words. It was like she was pleading. She was pleading. Tsunade rested her chin her hands and stared thoroughly at her student.

The war affected her. A little too much for Tsunade's or anyone's liking. Tsunade had predicted that Naruto would be the one so chewed up by this war. But it was the other teammate. She knew what Sakura had gone through the war. First of all, this was her first war that she experienced. The first one was always the worst. Then Sakura had single-handedly watched both her teammates nearly kill each other, and had the audacity to interfere while Naruto was trying to blow Sasuke's head and Sasuke was trying to blow Naruto's head. That killed her emotionally.

But her run into Sasuke before the big battle of the two ex teammates had killed her physically. It was reported that Sakura was captured in Tsukuyomi. What she had experienced, only Sakura knew. Tsunade didn't bother her about her not wanting to explain. Experiencing Tsukuyomi wasn't something anybody would freely like to share.

After Konoha, and the rest of the great ninja villages, had defeated Madara and ended the Fourth Great Shinobi War, everything was peaceful. Alliances between villages were stronger than ever. The war had left so many dead, injured, or homeless, and everyone was still recovering from it. Even though everything was peaceful, there was so much more to rebuilt and restore.

More and more dead bodies of shinobi's and kunoichis that fought in the war were being discovered in the rocky debris piles of buildings. Families that survived wished that they were dead too, losing their loved ones had put so much unnecessary hurt in their hearts. But no one blamed them. If was rare if you found one genuine smile these days. The cemeteries were getting bigger and bigger.

It's been almost five months since the victory, but reconstruction was taking forever, Tsunade had concluded. With the slow cleaning process, almost half of Konoha was still crumbled buildings, which was only halting the reconstructing moments.

But though everything, people were starting to find hope once again.

"Please." Sakura was now openly pleading. "_Please._"

Her eyes were getting moist. "I need time to breathe. Time to-"

"Okay."

Sakura's eyes widened. What. Did Tsunade just agree? No, her ears were finally playing tricks on her. Was she hearing right? Sakura was expecting a no. Then she had planned to tell Tsunade that she was just going to be a burden here and was only going to get in other people's way. Sakura was sure Tsunade was going to dismiss Sakura and she was left to run home and cry her heart out, for the three hundredth twenty second time and forever always feeling awkward around Tsunade.

"Wh-what?"

"I don't want you pulling anyone else down. We have more than enough messes to clean right now," Tsunade paused to stand up and walk towards the shelf filled with books and scrolls, "but, I will not purposely let go a great aid to Konoha. We can't afford anyone slacking off."

Tsunade grabbed a scroll and made her way back towards her desk.

"There's a mission, thirty months long-"

"I'll take it." Tsunade eyed Sakura as Sakura closed her mouth and let Tsunade finish.

"It's in Amegakure. We need someone to go there and act as a spy. Konan, according to Naruto, swore allegiance to Konoha but there has been rumors going around that Konan is dead and there's a new unknown leader. Rumors say that Hanzo, somehow survived, faked his death and once again took control of Ame. Amegakure has a long history of bad leaders, and we don't want history to repeat itself. It's been awhile since we had any news from Ame, so I want you to go travel to Amegakure as a civilian. If Konan is still in full leadership I want you to come back. If there is anyone else, you have thirty months to blend in as a citizen and murder the leader."

Sakura stared, speechless, at Tsunade. She wanted Sakura to "murder" the leader of Amegakure. Her insides were telling to decline the mission and just remain in Konoha.

"I accept."

The words rolled of Sakura's tongue intuitively, before she had a chance to think about the pros and cons.

Tsunade was hesitant. "Sakura, I want you to think about this."

"I already did. If I stay here any longer, I'm only going to hurt myself more and the people around me. Even you just admitted to it before. It'll be for the better of everyone."

Tsunade looked over Sakura one more time, if her face held some facade. But no. It was facade-free.

A sigh escaped Tsunade's lips. "You will leave for Amegakure in a week." Sakura nodded as she walked up to Tsunade and grabbed the scroll Tsunade was holding out for her, before leaving Tsunade alone in the room.

When the door clicked shut, Tsunade finally pinched the bridge of her nose. It were moments like these that Tsunade just wanted to step down as Hokage and go to a casino and gamble her ass back into debt.

Tsunade reached for the drawer on her right and pulled out a bottle of sake, and hoped Shizune didn't walk in.

* * *

_Just let me go._

* * *

**Last Edited** : August 24, 2010

**Word Count** : 1752

**Next Chapter** : Attacked

**Beta'ed B**y : Cant Catch This

With much love,  
-_im-rite-here_


	2. Attacked

A/N: I was hoping that I could make this chapter a little longer, but don't worry, the next chapters are going to be longer. After editing and editing and adding more words, I really really really wish there are no errors or stupid grammatical mistakes. I need to get a beta, anyone interested? PM me if you are. Review and please feel free to ask any questions. Chapter two is 10% complete, so don't worry, I got something done. Enjoy

* * *

**Moving Mountains**

**Chapter One**

**Attacked**

* * *

_And the sky turns gray_

_And the tears keep falling._

* * *

"And then, it started raining, and he kissed me. Oh, it was so romantic." A woman's eyes turned into hearts as she sighed.

"Aw, that's so sweet; I wish my Ryuu-kun was that romantic with me. But he's always on missions. I feel so neglected lately."

"But Gina, Ryuu proposed to you. Now that's not fair."

"So, ever since we got married, he's too busy on missions. Unfortunately, Ame is more important than me."

"Ryuu's a good guy," a new voice joined the conversation.

"Says the single girl."

"Singles have the most fun." She defended as she put her hands in the air.

"That's true, I remember when I was a single," Gina looked up and pictured herself a year ago, "Parties, alcohol, amazing sex with amazing strangers. Ow! Stop hitting me Sakura!"

"I have to go. Clinic duty. Bye Gina, bye Kaoru."

"Bye single. Ow Kaoru, stop hitting me!"

Sakura stood up from the chair she was sitting on and made her way out the cafeteria. Walking towards the bathroom, Sakura slipped into the empty lavatory. She stepped up to the sink and washed her hands.

She met her eyes in the mirror.

She was starting to get thinner, blame her lack of appetite these days. Her bright emerald eyes were rain washed, almost to the point they looked dark gray. Who was to blame, it only helped her blend in with the people here. She was only glad they weren't puffy anymore from crying herself to sleep last night.

Her straight black hair was pulled into a messy bun. As Sakura stared longer into the mirror, it was getting harder to see herself with pink hair. A smile crawled onto her face. Pink hair. How long ago was that a common sight for her. Unfortunately, changing her hair color was necessary for the mission. Anyone would recognize her if she had her pink locks falling from her head. Somewhere, she was sort of disappointed about her hair color. This was permanent. She would be stuck with black hair for the rest of her life. At least people wouldn't stare at her head when she walked in public.

Sakura rolled her eyes down to her nurse outfit. It was a short iceberg blue dress with a white apron that hand a red medical cross on the bottom right. If it were up to Sakura, the dress would be longer. Those stereotype sexy nurse outfits weren't so stereotype in Ame. This is why most patients pretended to still be sick after they got better just so that they could stay an extra day or two in the hospital, because of these short dresses. Curse them.

As she grabbed a paper towel and dried her hands, Sakura took one last look at herself.

She felt like a coward. Pushing that feeling away, she sucked in a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom.

"Sakura, you have clinic duty!"

Sakura turned her head to face the other nurse and suppressed a groan. "Okay, after my rounds."

Not wanting to make a fuss, Sakura made her ways to do her daily rounds. Check patients. "How are you feeling?" "Does your head still hurt?" "How many fingers am I holding up?" "Senji-san, my face is up here." Check their pulses, clean their wounds, re-apply bandages, give them bathes, and make sure they can't see her underwear when she bends over. The usual.

Then today, Sakura had clinic duty. Fun.

Sakura missed being a medic in Konoha, where she was free to use her chakra and healing wounds was so much easier. But complaining about being a nurse here would only make her a hypocrite. She was a civilian here, and worked as a nurse in the hospital to make a living.

No chakra.

No kunoichi.

It was almost too easy. And boring.

Sakura had gained the trust of everyone here a while ago. She blended in as just another traveler who wanted to finally settle down. No one suspected that she was a spy. No one. And that only made here everything so drama-free...and boring.

Sending her monthly reports to Konoha was almost tiresome. All twenty two of them.

When Sakura headed out for Ame almost two years ago, she prayed that Konan wasn't the leader. Thankfully her wish was granted. She didn't have anything against Konan or anything, but Sakura really wanted time away from Konoha. She _needed_ time away from Konoha.

"Ah, goodnight Sakura-chan." A receptionist waved Sakura bye, as Sakura returned the favor.

Pushing the front hospital doors open, Sakura stepped outside. The sky was grey, threatening to rain. She remembered when she stepped into Ame. The big, tall buildings scared her, and the continuous falling of water from the sky made her pale skin turn paler.

But after twenty two months of living here, Sakura still wasn't immune to all the rain. If she walked fast enough, she'd make it to her apartment just before the rain fell. She snuggled into her jacket to find some more warmth.

Quickly making her way to her apartment complex, Sakura rushed into the warm building.

"Sakura, hey," a voice brought her back to life.

Sakura smiled. "Oh hey Hiro-kun," Sakura ran her eyes up and down, "a mission?"

"Yeah, this one's going to be a long one."

"Oh, well, don't die, because this time I won't help you to your apartment from the hospital."

Hiro chuckled. "Only you wouldn't."

"Only I wouldn't," Sakura agreed.

Pressing the up the up button too many times, Sakura patiently waited for the elevator to arrive, and made her way up to her apartment room.

It was small, but it had the best view ever. One wall in her apartment was all glass, so she could see the surrounding buildings. As Sakura glanced outside, she noticed that it had started raining, the third time that day. She saw some shinobi's running, barely making contact with the building walls they ran across.

Sakura sighed.

She wanted to run like that. Push chakra into her feet and run outside in the rain. She nearly forgot the feeling of almost flying across trees and buildings as the wind ran through her hair.

She missed doing all the crazy dangerous things ninjas did. Going on dangerous missions, not knowing if you're going to live the next day.

Her mission in Ame was almost over, just eight more months. A part of Sakura wanted to go back to Konoha. But another part was happily satisfied living in the rain.

Sakura walked into her bathroom. She needed a nice long shower. A nice long _warm_ shower.

* * *

When Sakura woke up that morning, late again, it was still raining. No surprise there. It only rained three hundred sixty days in a year. Quickly making a mental note to buy a new alarm clock, the last one she accidentally broke with her inhuman strength, Sakura threw her covers over, ignoring the cold air around her. Grabbing a bra Sakura clipped it on, put on her nurse uniform, grabbed her jacket and ran her way to the hospital. Her hair was getting wet but it really didn't matter.

When she walked into the hospital, there were people running everywhere. Doctors and medics running for the patients, nurses calmly trying to tell the patients family to wait in the waiting room. Surgeons making their way to their operations.

There were so many bleeding ninjas in the room, Sakura almost felt claustrophobic. One guy was missing an arm, while another was covered in blood head to toe. Some were screaming in agony while others bit their tongues from groaning in pain. It was chaos.

"Sakura!" Sakura snapped back into reality as she saw the head nurse running up to her. "Half of the nurses here are helping with the surgeries-"

"What's going on?"

"An outpost in border of the Fire Country was attacked last night. Almost half of them died. More died on their way here, and the ones that made it are waiting to get healed. Anyways, I need you to cover Aki's, Kaoru's, Saki's, and Maya's rounds and patients today. After you're done with that, I want you to help out in the emergency department. Got it?"

"But-"

"Sakura, we don't have time on our side."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but, the nurse quickly made her way to another nurse that just walked in. Sakura stood there confused for a second before she headed to the elevator. Great.

Upon reaching the fourth floor of the hospital, Sakura noticed there was no secretary at the desk up front. She just sighed and grabbed hers and the other nurses' patients' files before making her way towards the rooms.

"We need morphine in room 423!"

"Got it!"

"We need another medic in room 402!"

"I'll find one!"

Sakura wanted to run and scream '_I'm a medic! I can help!_' but she knew she couldn't. This floor was a little bit less chaotic, but there were still doctors running around and injured ninjas crying in pain.

It looked like there was war.

_No, impossible_. Sakura pushed the though away from her as she continued making her way to check her patients. "How are you feeling today?" "Idiot, you just reopened your stitches!" "You're free to leave the hospital." "Does your head still hurt?" "Senji-san, I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you keep looking at my breast." "Hi, I'm Sakura, filling in for Saki...no she's busy...I'm sure she'll check you tomorrow...no I won't bite you...I promise." Her day continued.

Sakura bit the last of her apple before throwing it in the trash. That was her breakfast and lunch. It's been four hours and she still didn't have a chance to get to the emergency department like she was told to. After she did her and the other nurses' regular check-ups, a doctor had pulled her into a surgery to help out.

Even through all she could do was grab everything the medic or doctor told her, Sakura secretly healed three patients with her chakra when no one was looking. Then, when she was finally making her way to the emergency department, Gina had popped out of nowhere and told her that Yui, the head nurse, wanted Sakura to help out in the clinic for the rest of the day. Sakura sighed. Clinics got on her nerves.

She loved children and their bubbly attitudes, and other people who needed medical attention to their sore throats and colds, but that seemed less important at the moment. There were dying people all around the hospital and she didn't understand why people just couldn't just take a pill to make their fevers and colds go away without having someone to tell them to take it.

Walking down the crazy hallway, Sakura held onto her clipboard for her dear life, moving out of the way when a group of doctors were pushing a hurt ninja on a stretcher down the hallway.

Room 456 was Sakura's next destination.

_Room 448...450...452...454...458...460...wait_! Sakura quickly halted. Room 456 was in the corner. The first time she was looking for this room months ago, it took her half an hour, before another nurse finally told her that room 456 was all the way down the hallway. _How inconvenient_, Sakura mentally grumbled.

Opening the door, Sakura peaked inside. There was a male, sitting on the stretcher, their back towards Sakura. "Um, hello, I'm Sakura. I'll be helping you out today," Sakura stepped inside and glanced at the clipboard in her hands, "Uh, well, it says here that you have trouble with your eyesight."

"..."

"Well, let me glance at it, and if your eyes are really damaged, I'll go get a medic." Sakura walked over to the patient and laid her clipboard on the bed. "Okay, let me see-"

Sakura lost her voice as she stared at the guy sitting on the stretcher two feet away from her. Sakura tried to breathe but her lungs protested. The breath was sucked right out of her. Her jaw dropped, and she would've dropped the clipboard too if it was in her hands.

Her eyes were lying. They were playing tricks on her. Years ago, her ears were playing tricks on her. Now her eyes. That moment Sakura was ready to enlist herself sick, as in seeing hallucinations, in the hospital. Had she officially lost it? Great, now she was going to end up in an asylum.

Sakura blinked as if she was seeing things, which she definitely declared she was. Her inner went wild. _Get yourself together Sakura_!

"Umm, close your r-right eye," Sakura stuttered. Did she die? _Am I in hell yet?_

Even though Sakura was going crazy, why wasn't he attacking her? He looked straight at her, almost through her. Sakura raced through her memories if she got something wrong. Because last time she ran into him, he didn't hesitate to cut her head open. Maybe because wasn't everyday you run into old comrades Sakura concluded. Maybe he missed her. Ha! Yeah right.

It wasn't everyday you run into a stuck up idiot who gets manipulated easily.

And it definitely wasn't everyday that you run into an ex teammate.

Most certainly, it wasn't everyday you run into someone who's supposed to be dead.

Or Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

"It was attacked around midnight. The enemy aimed to kill everyone at the camp, except for those lucky enough to escape. But they're most probably dead or in the hospital if they managed. The whole outpost was burned, leaving no traces behind of whom or what attacked the outpost."

"Two hundred three out of three hundred died or are reported missing. The rest managed to get to Ame, and are in the hospital this moment."

"Did we capture any of the attackers?"

"Nope. None. What I don't understand is that, why would anyone want to attack one of our outposts?"

A new voice echoed the room. "Maybe because they don't like us."

"I think that's highly impractical. Amegakure stayed out of the Fourth Shinobi War."

"Unless the enemy holds a grudge against us. We were allied with Konoha, and the rest of the Five Great Nations."

"The Akatsuki?"

"Are all defeated."

"Maybe-"

"Which outpost was this again?" A new louder demanding voice interrupted the conversation.

A man ruffed through some papers and handed the man sitting on the desk a paper. "East. Border with Konoha."

Instantly, the quiet room got quieter. The people stared at each other with wide shocked eyes. Confusion ran from every wall at every angle. They were all thinking the same thing. Konohagakure and Amegakure had been on good terms. The Konan lady had confirmed alliance. Why would Konoha want to attack Ame?

Unless they knew something.

The man sitting at the desk squirmed at the idea. Konoha knew something. But what? Did they know about him? For how long? First of all, before he could answer any of those questions, he thought, how.

How?

If they know anything, how? The answer was simple.

A spy.

There was a Konoha spy in this village. For all he knew, there could be dozens. The spy could also be in this every same room as him at this very same moment. His fist tighten on his lap at the thought.

He hated the idea of a spy, for he was a very cautious man. For once, ever since he took back the title of leader in Ame, he let his guard down, not too much, but he allowed the presence of innocent children around him without them being searched. He wanted to throw something. This is why he was a very cautious man. If you let your guard down, you get hurt and you let other people get hurt too.

"I don't think Konoha attack the outpost." A man broke the disturbing silence.

"Who do you think did it then? There is no way that Suna or Iwa or any other village or country would go through the trouble of traveling all the way to our border with Konoha just to attack an outpost so Konoha would look guilty. Besides, the new Hokage has been raised by the Will of Fire."

"But the Hokage has no experience in these kinds of situations whatsoever. It can easily be said that he made a compulsive decision. Plus we can't forget that there might be spies wandering here sending information to Konoha."

"The Hokage has been taught under Copy Ninja Kakashi, trained with one of the Sannin, had close ties with the Godaime, and is the son of the Fourth, all who believe that avoiding war is the best decision. I doubt that he made a compulsive decision."

"And the spies don't necessarily have to be from Konoha."

"Why are you defending Konoha, Ari?"

More people raised their brows and looked at Ari. "Because-"

"They have every reason to want to have revenge on us."

"Yes, but we can't just assume Konoha attacked us so we can declare war on them. What if it wasn't Konoha? We're just going to start an unnecessary battle, let more people die uselessly."

"If it wasn't Konoha who was it than?" someone asked as the room grew quiet again.

"I don't think it's Kumogakure. The Hokage trained with the late Raikage's brother and since have a strong alliance."

Another man added. "Suna and Konoha hold strong alliance. Suna wouldn't do this to make Konoha look guilty."

The argument kept going on. Some concluded that Konoha was innocent while others were sure that Konoha was the one behind the attack. Others simply decided to keep shut and ideas to themselves.

"Hanzo, orders."

The man at the desk who was listening to the ideas looked up. What was he supposed to do? This was what he was afraid of. Loosening the buttons only for the whole shirt to be ripped off.

"I want more security around this building and five more patrol teams out. And," he eyed everyone in the room before continuing, "Everything talked in this room, stays in this room. Dismissed."

Slowly, one by one all the members in the room left. The door clicked shut. Hanzo sat alone in room. He stood up from his chair and walked over to one of the large windows. He held his hands behind his back and stared outside.

The rain was coming down harder and faster with the growing seconds. He loved the rain. It calmed everything. It washed away the pain. But this time, it brought more troubles, and tonight, the rain annoyed him. His thoughts roamed to the meeting he had a few minutes before.

Was it really Konoha that attacked the outpost? There was a great possibility it was them. They were somewhat angry at what Ame had done to them in the last war. Pain had attacked, almost killed their Hokage. But that Konan had messed everything up and allied Ame with Konoha. She was only getting in the way of his plans. He wanted nothing to do with Konoha. But if they attacked, there was no way Ame was going down without a fight.

It was simple. If they punched. Ame would punch right back.

* * *

"Hey Ayame."

A girl stopped walking and turned to face the person who called her. She smiled. "Hey, what's up?"

"I just got back from scouting the area. I don't know why leader wants an outpost here. It's almost like we're ready to go to war with Konoha."

"We are not. Don't even think about that. Ame and Konoha have a strong alliance."

"Yeah, but you never know. You need to stop being so naive."

Ayame stopped walking and stared at the girl next to her. "I am not naive!"

Her friend smirked. "Yes you are. You can't kill someone without feeling guilty afterwards, even when it's an enemy. No, don't look at me like that. Remember when the mission we had in Sound. You cried for hours after you attacked a Sound nin. And you weren't even the one who killed him."

"Mikato! You have no sensitivity! That Sound nin was an innocent civilian who in fact didn't know anything about Orochimaru."

"Okay, whatever you say. But just remember. Feeling sorry for the enemy will only be the end of you. Anyways, I have to get this wound checked out. Stupid team members had to make me do all the hard stuff. I don't know why you're married. I'm thinking I might just go lesbian, at least girls have feelings."

The two friends waved their goodbyes and headed their separate ways.

Ayame walked into one of the big orange tents. "Um, hi. I was wondering if Team Eight is back from their mission?"

The man behind the desk flipping through some files and shook his head. Ayame sighed and walked back outside. She shivered at the cold temperature.

She hated when her husband was out in missions. She should be thankful that they were in the same outpost. But she hated when he was away for more than a week. It was dangerous here, and shinobi's and kunoichi's were dying everyday.

But this was different. She had a bad feeling about the mission he was going on before he was assigned to it. Something bad was going to happen. She felt it in her blood. Ayame walked into one of the shower tents. Spotting an empty one in the corner, she quickly stripped from her attire and threw her clothes in her small locker. Grabbing a towel and a shampoo bottle, Ayame stepped into the shower.

Warm water fell on her, relaxing her muscles, but the strange feeling in her stomach didn't go away. Usually, warm showers took her mind of anything, but today, her stomach growled with the queasy, uneasy feeling she's been feeling for past couple of days.

Ayame ran her hands through her hair, and massaged her scalp. A sigh escaped her lips.

She calmed down a little bit as her shoulders relaxed. The max limit in the shower was five minutes to savior water, but today she didn't care. She was just starting to rid that feeling...

Before she could take another breath, Ayame heard screams echo outside. She almost choked on the water running down her face.

She turned the knob as the water stopped and quickly dried herself and threw on the fresh clothes as fast as she could. She slipped on her boots and ran outside. Her throat tightened as her eyes widened. "Oh my..."

There were people running everywhere. Some tents were on fire, actually, most of the tents were on fire, and it was only spreading faster. People were on the ground bleeding their lives out. Even more people were dead on the ground, with visible burn marks all over them. Ayame was so shocked she couldn't move. She was in the shower for ten minutes at the most and this.

People yelled at her to move, to do something. But her legs couldn't. They refused. Tears filled her eyes. She had a bad feeling for days. Ayame thought the worst that was going to happen was that they run out of water at the post. Not a full raged war. A war. Is that what this is?

Before she could do anything, a loud boom filled her ears.

Ayame screamed but no sound came out of her. Pain moved across her body faster then she thought was possible. Before she knew it, Ayame slipped into a blanket of darkness.

* * *

Sakura stood still, for a second. Waiting to see if Sasuke would do anything to her. He didn't. Confusion ran through Sakura. She predicted two seconds ago that he was going to pick up the sword that as behind him and chop off her head.

But he just sat there. Waiting, as irritation spread across his face from waiting.

He looked older. Taller, maybe a little more muscular, but still slender. His skin was pale, when was it never. His eyes still the dark onyx she remembered. But they had a tint of light gray in them. A sign of wariness.

But what caught her attention was the long, ugly scar that ran down from the side of the left cheek all the way to his neck and down his shirt, where she could see no more. Sakura grimaced at the scar. She remembered how he got it. It was when Naruto and Sasuke had their fight-till-death battle. Naruto had gotten so frustrated at one point, that even though he had full control of the Kyuubi, the tails started popping out and Naruto ended up scratching Sasuke.

Sakura moved closer and touched his scar subconsciously, and before she knew it, she was thrown backside on the bed. After wincing of a moment of pain, Sakura stared at the Uchiha above her, shocked.

"You still use the same shampoo, Sakura."

Her eyes widened. WTF? How does he know that she still used the same shampoo? Even better, why does he care that she still used the same shampoo.

Her shocked eyes turned suspicious. The Sasuke she knew, didn't care what shampoo she used. He was acting weird. Almost dying can do that to a man, her inner told her. True, Sasuke almost died in the battle with Naruto. Actually, he did die. He's dead. Why wasn't he dead? That's what everyone ended up saying, even though no body was found. He took major injuries that could kill a person in a second when fighting Naruto. So did Naruto, but he had herself and Tsunade to heal him. But Sasuke on the other hand, didn't have anyone. The chances of him surviving the battle were slim, almost zero, but not entirely impossible.

Did Konoha know Sasuke was alive? She wondered what Sasuke was doing here. She knew that if Sasuke was found alive, he would only be hunted after until he was dead. Which was what Sasuke should be right now.

Anger flared through Sakura, as the urge to punch him in the face increased. _How dare he. Think that he ran into me and has the audacity to be on top of like I'm his possession_. Sakura eyed the flower vase on her right. If anything happened, she would just quickly grab it and throw it at him. In the worse scenario, she would have to punch him unconscious and throw him out the window and watch him fall down the tall building.

Sakura stared at Sasuke. _Why isn't he doing anything?_ She thought. He just laid there, on top of her, holding her right wrist tight to the point it hurt, but he didn't attack.

Then it hit her. She finally realized why Sasuke kept staring at her weird. Anger washed out of her body like sweat.

"You're blind."

Why didn't she notice this the second she laid her eyes on his eyes. She was a medic, and pretty damn good one. Maybe because she was too preoccupied thinking why Sasuke was on top of her. This was why he was he was acting weird. Sasuke wouldn't have minded to cut her head open. But he didn't. Because he realized that even though he was an S-class missing Nin, since he wasn't dead, one of the best out there, he still wasn't at his full potential without his Sharingan. The Sharingan was a weapon. And Sasuke lost his best weapon. He lost the kekki genkai that defined him an Uchiha. His Sharingan was everything, and without it, he was nothing.

Sakura almost felt bad, but as a new wave of pain ran through her wrist, she pushed chakra through her right hand and pushed Sasuke off of her with her inhuman strength.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura spat a little too venomous than she intended to.

Sasuke sighed, and replied nonchalantly. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Well, since I asked you first, you answer first. And you are in no position to speak to me like that. In case you forgot, I have the upper hand here. And since you did seem to forget, you're blind. Your best asset, gone." Sasuke looked away as something in his eyes flickered, which didn't go unnoticed by Sakura. Sakura ran her hand through her hair and sighed. She always did have a weakness for this Uchiha. Curse him. "Let me see your eyes."

Sakura reached out for Sasuke's face but he slapped her hands away. Not surprised, Sakura stared at Sasuke and just stood there, waiting for him to say/do something. But knowing Sasuke, he didn't say anything.

Anger ran through her again. "If you're not going to let me look at your eyes, than leave. We kind of have a epidemic here, not that you can see that or anything."

Sasuke faced Sakura. Sakura gulped. With the intensity of his stare, she almost doubted he was blind.

Her voice changed. A little softer, but towards him, it was hard, it was guarded. He knew she probably changed physically too, almost hoping he could the change. What changed the most was her attitude. He didn't blame her, the last time he was alone with her, he basically killed her. Tsukuyomi wasn't something to play with. He was surprised that she wasn't still recovering from it.

"Sakura." The way he said it sent shivers up Sakura's spine. So intense, just like his stare. "Why are you here?"

"Because I want to, damnit! Why does it matter to you?"

Sasuke shut his mouth. As Sakura grew more curious. "I thought you would be in Konoha, to support Naruto."

Sakura raised her brows, not that Sasuke could see it, with confusion. "Why would you think that?" More silence. "Anyways, it doesn't matter what you think. I'm glad I saw you, so now I can report you're still alive to Konoha, and you'll be dead, once and for all. And just so you know, I-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she felt her back being pushed roughly against the wall. Her wrists, both this time, were pinned on both sides on her head. Sasuke pushed his body against hers. Goosebumps ran up Sakura's arms. This would've been a very intimate position, if it weren't for Sakura's anger and Sasuke's irritation. He looked at her, the intense gaze gone; Sakura almost forgot he was blind. It seemed he saw right through her, his gaze piercing right through her soul. Sasuke lowered his head as his cheek pressed against Sakura's. For a moment she though he was going to kiss her. Sakura closed her eyes as her heart started beating faster than it should have, as her anger washed away, again.

"Do not underestimate me, Sakura," Sakura shivered as Sasuke's warm breath tickled her earlobe, "Just because I'm blind, doesn't mean I can't kill you."

Anger ran through Sakura again. This wasn't healthy. Feeling angry then calm then angry then nothing then angry. It wasn't good for the skin. How dare he think that he can kill her as if she was that weak. Sakura almost wanted to dare him to try.

"Just because you're blind, doesn't mean that I'm not afraid to kick a disabled person."

Sasuke's lips curled upwards as a smirk replaced a frown. He let go of her and stepped back. Sakura took the moment of space and massaged her bruised wrists. Damn that Uchiha. She kept leaning against the wall as she crossed her arms.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked, not caring if her voice cracked with raw emotions.

Sasuke didn't reply. He just kept looking where he felt the chakra presence, as if he looked any harder, he could see her.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked again.

He wasn't' going to let this go. "Mission. Why are you alive?"

Sasuke walked up to her but didn't reply. "Sakura," his voice was soft, so was his face. Sakura stared up at Sasuke. What he said next nearly killed her. Tears formed in her eyes. "Thank you."

Sakura felt pain before darkness welcome her.

Sasuke stared at her for another minute before picking her light weight body and setting her down on the stretcher. He walked over to his sword that was laying next to her, picked it up and walked out the room.

* * *

The first thing Sakura noticed when she blinked out of unconsciousness was that the ceiling needed to be painted. She turned her head and noticed that it was still raining. Glancing at the clock, she realized that she must've been out for two hours.

The memories started hitting Sakura; she curled up into a ball. She ran into a guy who everyone thought was dead, that was supposed to be dead. Sakura groaned and buried her face in her hands. It took forever to get over Sasuke's death and there he was. Looking healthy and everything, expect for the fact that he was blind. What was she supposed to do? Try to see if she can catch up to him. He must've been hours away from Ame now, and the rain just helped cover up his scent.

Sakura wondered. What if another nurse came in instead of her? Would he let them examine his eyes? She didn't complain that Sasuke didn't let her analyze his eyes. He probably thought she was going to pull them right out their sockets and burn them on the spot. She probably was going to do that. That and give him a hard slap across the face. Sakura now mourned that she didn't slap him. She should've at least spit in his face for underestimating her. Again, like always. _He'll always think I'm the weak one_.

A wave of uselessness ran through Sakura. Her eyes filled with tears again.

Sakura stood up straight and brushed the invisible dust off her dress. She picked up her clipboard and walked out the room, thinking about the best way to break it to Konoha that Uchiha Sasuke was still alive.

Because that's the only thing she could do.

* * *

_How do you feel _

_Now that you see me like this._

_But please don't cry_

_Because I hate your tears._

_And I hope_

_That I never see you again_

_Because I don't want you to see me like this._

* * *

**Last Edited** : August 6, 2010

**Word Count** : 6355

**Next Chapter** : Choices

**Beta'ed By** : Cant Catch This

With much love,  
-_im-rite-here_


	3. Choices

A/N: So, as I was writing this, I decided to split the idea I had for one chapter into two, it goes better that way, trust me. Thank you so much for your reviews, I love you guys. **Hershey's 7**, first of all, I love your pen name, second of all, thank you for not calling me a monkey, and thirdly, thanks, I really did smile when I read your comment. And everyone else who commented. I love you too.

Hehehe. I feel so soft and cuddly right now because I'm wearing a over-sized sweatshirt. Any questions? Yes? No? Nope, okay. I hope everyone remembers that this is a NaruSaku, and yes, Sasuke made a quick appearance but he's one of those important minor characters, in this story at least. He won't have that many appearances, but he will be in many conversations. I think.

And some of you probably, hopefully noticed that I changed the summary for the story. **"You need him Sakura." Ino's face was stoically solemn. "You can lie to me. To him. To the whole world. But you can't lie to yourself." "I don't know what you're talking about Ino." "It's time to tell the truth." Sakura's heart cracked. NaruSaku_._** - was the old summary if any one of you are interested. I didn't want to completely delete and forget about it.

I'm still looking for a beta, I PM'ed some people but I didn't get a response back so if any one of you are interested, PM me, or if you know any good betas out there. I have Chapter three a little over half-way finished, but I'm going to need to edit it and start working on chapter four before I can upload chapter three. So yeah. Enjoy :)

* * *

**Moving Mountains**

**Chapter Two**

**Choices**

* * *

_Do you sacrifice _

_For yourself?_

_Or for the sake of others,_

_Because it's your duty_

_To protect everyone._

* * *

"Do they suspect us?"

"Who wouldn't? They have all the right reasons to suspect us."

"We didn't do it. So who did?"

The room went silent. The five people in the room stared at each other in confusion. That was a good question. Who attacked Ame, if it wasn't them? Who was so mad or held a grudge against Ame that they had went and attacked an outpost.

Finally, one of them sighed and broke the silence. "Where's Shikamaru?"

"Out on a mission. He should be back by now, tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Find him and send him here immediately. Dismissed." Three ninjas poofed away in smoke as one remained, still resting on the window sill, but didn't say anything. Merely just looking at his student.

Or really his ex student.

When Naruto slipped on the Hokage hat and officially became Hokage, Kakashi never felt more proud. Everyone was proud. Everyone loved Naruto. It was hard to imagine that only ten years ago, he was the most hated child in Konoha because of the Kyuubi sealed inside him. Now, every time Naruto was spotted outside the Hokage mansion, people would smile and wave and boast how their Hokage was the best kage out of the rest.

And Kakashi didn't have to think twice that it was the most prideful day for Naruto too. His dream finally achieved. And he deserved the title of Hokage too. With all honesty, Kakashi couldn't picture anyone but Naruto as the Rokudaime. But as pleased he was with Naruto's title, it was still weird taking orders from him. Naruto had demanded Kakashi call him Hokage-sama, threatening to strip him of his jounin status if he wasn't addressed with the respect that he deserved, as a joke. It was all funny until Kakashi realized that he hadn't received his paycheck for the last two A-rank missions he had gone on.

As Kakashi looked back at his former student, he couldn't help but to see the reflection of his sensei. Naruto had grown out his hair, similar to his father. And both father and son had the same cerulean eyes. If you took a picture of both, and put them side by side, it would've been hard to tell the difference. And it wasn't only the physical attributes that changed Naruto. It was his attitude. Ever since he came back from training, five months ago, it seemed like the person that looked like Naruto, really wasn't. It seemed that the loud, bubbly emotions Naruto held in his eyes were drained. He was quieter, reserved - though he still had those random outbursts and goofy grin, but they were rare. And that only reminded Kakashi, Naruto more like his father. Guess that saying was true after all, like father like son.

"Who do you think it was?" Naruto asked. His voice deep, indicating the seriousness of the situation.

Kakashi thought the obvious. "Can't be Suna."

"I know."

"Can't be Kumo."

"..."

"I hardly think it could've been Kiri."

Naruto didn't respond. Kakashi stared at his former student again. He was in a position similar to Tsunade's when she was in deep thought. Elbows resting on the table which was holding up the chin resting in the palm.

"I don't think it's any hidden villages," Naruto stated.

Kakashi raised a brow. It made sense, but the possibility was slim. If it wasn't one of the hidden villages, it could be one of the other villages. A group. Kakashi stopped thinking further. It couldn't possibly be a group. The Akatsuki didn't exist anymore. But who or what other village had the power to destroy one of the most powerful outposts out there. Better question why? Why that outpost?

Before he could mentally ask himself more questions, a knock broke the silence before a sleepy looking Shikamaru walked in.

Muttering troublesome under his breath, along the lines of 'so late', Shikamaru nodded at Kakashi before laying his eyes on Naruto. Who didn't really notice his presence at all. Naruto had on a serious face and was thinking. Thinking hard by the looks of it.

"Hokage-sama," Shikamaru said as Naruto looked up to Shikamaru. Naruto held up a scroll, which Shikamaru walked over and grabbed it and began reading.

His expression became lazy-serious to serious-serious. Naruto watched as Shikamaru read the scroll. "Who do you think attacked the outpost?"

"More importantly, why?" Kakashi spoke for the first time since Shikamaru walked in.

"Revenge. Maybe they held a grudge."

"But who would hold a grudge against Ame?"

Shikamaru sighed. This was going to be a long night by the looks of it. He never did under appreciate his brains, but sometimes it was too troublesome being extra smart. "Our spy in Ame had stated that Konan is not the leader, for about two years now. So we can safely assume that whoever attacked the outpost doesn't like the current leader."

"Do we know who the leader is?" Naruto asked as he stood up from his seat and walked over to the shelves and picked up a book and began flipping through the pages.

"They suspect its Hanzo, but they're not completely sure."

"Isn't Hanzo dead?" Kakashi interrupted as this case began getting more interesting; he jumped off the window sill and officially into the room.

"His body was never found, he can still be alive."

Naruto kept flipping through the book, somewhat listening to what Kakashi and Shikamaru were saying. He wanted to find out more about their spy in Ame because he didn't know about it. This probably was a mission Tsunade assigned to a Shinobi before he was Hokage.

Shikamaru picked up the scroll again and reread it. "You said your spy doesn't know for sure it's Hanzo."

Kakashi replied. "They said security it tight in Ame." Shikamaru raised his brows. "I never met Hanzo, but I heard he was a very secretive person, I'm not surprised they still haven't been able to conform that the leader is Hanzo."

"Was this a mission Tsunade assigned?" Naruto asked as he joined the conversation.

Kakashi observed Naruto for a quick moment. "I guess so." Shikamaru only raised his brow more.

Kakashi knew who the spy was, and wasn't willing to tell Naruto. And they were sent on a mission when Tsunade was still in office. It couldn't been before the Fourth War, because he knew Konoha had no spies anywhere, and if they did, Tsunade had ordered all of them to return to fight in the war for Konoha. That meant it had to be in the time between the time periods Tsunade was still Hokage. Shikamaru mentally groaned.

It could've been any one of the hundreds of Shinobi that Tsunade's sent out on a spying missions. But if they were still in Ame, they must've been in Ame for a year or two. And, to top it off, Kakashi wasn't willing to say who it was, and there were only a few people that Kakashi, a person who sticks to the rules, was willing to keep secret. This made all perfect sense now. But it couldn't...could it really be...

"Who is the spy?" Naruto asked, not looking up from his book.

Kakashi remained quiet. And his silence was Shikamaru's answer. He eyed Kakashi one more time, to see he was going to say anything, but Kakashi seemed perfectly content to remain silent.

"Sakura."

Naruto looked up from his book to Shikamaru and Kakashi glanced at Shikamaru, probably thinking not to underestimate Shikamaru's ability to figure things out.

"W-what?"

"Sakura. She's the spy. Right Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi nodded.

Naruto looked back into his book. His face expressionless. Kakashi's face hardened. By now, Naruto would be stomping his foot shouting why on earth Sakura would go to rainy Ame out of all the places out there. But no. Naruto didn't stomp nor did he shout. He stood there expressionless.

"So that's where she was," Naruto said as he made his way back to his desk, as he dropped the book on his desk and just stood there, "all this time," he whispered the last part so only his ears could hear.

"Naruto-"

Naruto began throwing orders. "I want to know more about this mission. Shikamaru, I want-"

"It was a simple spy mission, Naruto. Go, settle down, act normal, be a spy. Sakura's in no immediate danger."

Naruto thought about that. Kakashi was right. Ame wasn't the most dangerous place, it was safe, and Sakura was a strong kunoichi. Naruto gripped the table.

Kakashi knew about the Sakura's mission. That must've meant that she told him. Naruto gritted his teeth at the thought. She told Kakashi, but she didn't tell him. Did she not trust him? What was she thinking? A part of Naruto wanted to run to Ame and demand why Sakura left, but another part just wanted to drown his thoughts in ramen. But there was always a possibility that Tsunade told Kakashi, or he found out on his own. But that only made Naruto madder that Kakashi didn't felt it wasn't that important to tell him.

Naruto understood why Sakura left. She needed to leave. Truthfully, he needed some space too. He almost grinned at the thought. After battling Sasuke and Madara, Naruto was in the hospital for five months, two of those unconscious, the rest for recovering. How much more space did he need.

But Sakura, she wasn't sleeping for five months right after the battle. She had dwelt with after-war shock alone. When she needed him the most, he was in lala land. And he understood that she still needed to recover. But when he heard that Sakura went on a mission, he had waited three months for her to come back before stomping his way to Tsunade's office and demanding where Sakura was.

Only to find out that she went on a thirty month long mission.

Naruto hadn't asked more questions than that. He was upset. To the point you could put ramen in front of him to make him throw up. Ichiraku almost went out of business without its number one customer. From than on, Naruto blamed Sakura's depart on him. He wasn't there for her. And it nearly killed him. He promised to protect the ones he loved, and he couldn't protect Sakura because he was too busy being unconscious.

He even went out looking for her, since Tsunade refused to give out any information, the old hag, and nobody else knew where Sakura had flown too. Even if Naruto's little withdrawal from Konoha was for training purposes, it was really to find Sakura.

He had spent a year away from Konoha, only to miss it so much to come back. From then on he went on missions for a month before going under Hokage practice. It was one of those days Naruto will never forget, when Tsunade told him that she wanted to retire and he was the one and only candidate for the title of Hokage. But in the end of the day, he couldn't dwell over the fact that the two most important people in his lives weren't there to celebrate it with him, one of them being dead.

"Orders, Hokage-sama?"

Shikamaru's voice broke Naruto from his thoughts.

Finding out where Sakura was thrilling, but at the same time disappointing. Naruto remembered that he had stayed at Ame for a week in his travel. Only if he searched harder, he could've been able to find Sakura. Now he knew where she was. He could go there right now and bring her back. But this time around, he had the village to think of. He was the Hokage and Hokage can't just leave like that.

Orders.

What was he supposed to do? This was one of those times where Naruto honestly didn't know what to do.

He could order Shikamaru to go get some more details about the attack. Or he could contact Ame and tell them that he heard what happened and it wasn't Konoha. Or he could ignore that and go get Sakura.

And there was the choice every Hokage before him had to make.

Their village or themselves.

And this time around, Naruto thought of only one person when he decided. "Shikamaru, get me the files on Sakura's mission."

* * *

It was today that Gina had decided she couldn't handle drooping Sakura anymore. When she first met Sakura, she was lost soul. Sad, quiet, always thinking. It seemed like Sakura had a permanent frown on her face. It took forever for Gina to get Sakura out of her little apartment and live life. To smile. To laugh and actually mean it. And recently, ever since the wounded ninjas came from the attacked outpost, Sakura had gone back to her dreary ways. It was almost to glum to be around Sakura. Her emerald eyes looked more rain washed than ever, and her skin looked almost too pale.

Gina knew that Sakura was a little uncomfortable when it came to seeing mass people with mass amounts of blood on them. She was always a little weak kneed when it came to the sick. Gina always wondered why Sakura became a nurse than, seeing blood was normal.

But ever since the incident, Sakura was more detached from everybody and everything. She was always thinking, slipping into her little head. Unfocused, distant, weak. And it's starting to piss Gina off.

Gina sighed loudly, grabbing everyone's attention. "Soooo, Sakura, how's life?"

Sakura looked up from her food and raised a brow at Gina. "Good."

"Really? Is it just good? Why is it just good and not great?" Sakura opened her mouth to respond but Gina just kept talking. "Sakura, I can't handle this anymore, you need to start socializing again, you know, what normal humans do."

"Gina," Kaoru said in a warning tone, but Gina ignored her.

"No. No. Don't Gina me. I love you Sakura. I really do. Maybe more than Ryuu, he's being such an ass right now. But you're acting no better than him."

"Gina."

"I can't just let you sit here, for what, two weeks now and stare into space. I mean, that's all you've been doing lately. Sitting and somehow getting thinner and paler and-"

"Gina! Stop."

"Don't stop me Kaoru. I can't just sit here and pretend everything's alright while one of my best friends is slowly slipping away."

That shut Kaoru up. Kaoru looked down at her lap as she silently agreed with Gina. Sakura just stared at Gina, not able to form words. Kaoru broke the silence after an awkward silence. "Gina you shouldn't-"

"No Kaoru, it's okay. What Gina said is true," Sakura interrupted and smiled. Gina squirmed. _Fake smile_. "I'm just so... so stressed. I have so many things in my head, and I'm sorry if I'm not acting normal. I just need... time."

Something inside Sakura scoffed. Time, really. How much more time did she need? If two years weren't enough. "Um, I have a patient to get to."

Sakura excused herself and made her way out the cafeteria. She walked into an empty room and let her shoulders fall as she fell to the ground. Gina was right. Even if she didn't know the truth about Sakura behavior, she was right. What Gina was saying was to get over it and move on. Gina had been implying on the attack on the outpost that was making Sakura act weird. But really, to Sakura it was about Sasuke's appearance.

Get over it.

But it wasn't that easy. Tears started falling down Sakura's face and onto the cold floor. Sasuke was dead. He was dead. She saw him die. To get over that, was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. She had prepared herself about Sasuke's death. She had warned herself that it wasn't going to be that easy. But yet, even with all those warnings, she still crumbled.

Sasuke was an S-class enemy. He was a human gone cold. A human who forgot how to feel. He was a killing machine. He was the target. Sakura accepted that. But it was so much harder experiencing the hurt then preparing for it. A sob escaped Sakura's lips as more tears started falling.

"Weak. Weak weak weak weak weak! That's what you are Sakura! You're weak!" Sakura shouted at herself.

She saw an image of Sasuke calling her weak and scoffing at her. More tears fell. This was pain. And she was weak. She was always weak. Always crying. How many times had she promised herself not to cry, and how many times had she broken that promise was countless. She was a promise breaker because she was weak. She didn't deserve to be called a Shinobi.

Rule number 25: A Shinobi must never show tears.

And there she was tearing her heart out. The thought of that only made Sakura cry harder. Damn Sasuke. Damn rules. Damn the world. All she wanted was peace. But in a Shinobi world, there was nothing truly as peace. And she learned the hard way.

Sakura almost wished Sasuke was dead. How, he can play with her emotions like that. She was so surprised that he was alive, yet angered because he was being stuck up I'm-better-than-everyone-else-even-though-I'm-blind asshole. He could just go and trip and accident fall of a cliff and die and she wouldn't give a damn.

Another sob escaped Sakura's lips. Who was she lying to? She would always come to her knees when it came with Sasuke. That asshole had the power to make her cry; to make her laugh, to make her sad within the tips of his fingers, and it was his choice to play with her.

The month was almost coming to an end, and her monthly report was due soon. She had spotted an S-class criminal who was still alive. The first thing that she should do is to report him to her village, where her loyalty rest. But could she? Somewhat betray her former lover and teammate like that. Sakura squirmed. This wasn't fair. Because Sasuke was out there, somewhere, not caring whether she reported him or not. He just simply didn't care, and that was the fact that killed Sakura. She cared so much but he didn't understand how deep she held her devotion to their friendship, if you could call it a friendship.

He didn't care that Naruto was probably out there in Konoha, still depressed over the death of their teammate. And that dead bastard was still living, breathing like the rest of him. He didn't care that Naruto spent years training to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. Naruto spent years being faithful to the cold bastard who would kill him if he could get away with it without fighting. Sasuke didn't care.

A wave of hatred ran through Sakura. But it disappeared as fast as it appeared. Sakura knew, no matter what, Sasuke was always going to be that bastard. And right there, she promised herself. That to her, Sasuke was dead. He was dead the day he left Konoha.

After lying on the hospital floor for another ten minutes, Sakura decided that she should get back to duty. Picking herself up, she checked herself in the bathroom mirror and slipped out the room.

The hallway seemed much colder than the room, as goose bumps ran up and down Sakura's arms.

"Sakura!"

Sakura saw Kaoru run to her. "Sakura, where were you?"

Shit. "Um, bathroom. I had to pee," Sakura quickly made up a lie as she scratched the back of her head.

"Oh, I checked that, you probably were in a different one. Well, I just want to apologize for Gina, she was being so hard-headed and-"

"No, no, Gina's was right. I am acting weird, and my social life is equivalent to a broom. Ha, a broom is probably more alive than me. I just have so many things in my head right now."

Kaoru nodded. She probably noticed the dry tear stains on Sakura's cheeks. "Oh, if you need space, than it's okay. I was just going to ask you if you want to hit the clubs with me and Gina. It's okay if you say no. You're upset and mad at Gina. You don't have to come."

Kaoru looked so sad. Sakura wanted to give the girl a hug. She sure did remind Sakura of Hinata. So sweet and gentle. "I love you Kaoru. So sweet. Actually I think I will come. Need to forgive and forget." Minus the forgive part.

"Yay! Okay, I'll come pick you up at ten."

Nodding, the two walked their separate ways.

Clubbing with Gina and Kaoru was a whole separate chapter in a lifetime. Kaoru wasn't that bad, but all Sakura had to say was that, that girl could drink. The first time she saw Kaoru drink, it was like seeing Tsunade all over again. Sakura lost count of how many drinks Kaoru had after her seventh one. She drank like a sailor. And, after ordering another drink after drink, Kaoru acted like she wasn't drunk at all. Talk about holding in your liquor.

But Gina was a whole other story. One and a half drinks later, Gina was already singing songs on top of tables. Gina was a hard partier. It was actually quite entertaining seeing Gina drunk. She was one of those who said anything and everything while under the influence.

Sakura made her rounds, did her regular checkups, and finished all those nurse things that nurses did before making her way to her small apartment. She was already regretting agreeing to go clubbing with Gina and Kaoru. Her inner told her it was a great way to drown her sorrows. Yeah, with a Bloody Mary, a couple of Tequila shots, and maybe a cup of sake or two, Sakura was well on her way to lala land.

Sakura made her way to her kitchen, and decided on eating just a bowl of rice. She didn't want her stomach to feel like crap tomorrow if her head was going to also.

While flopping down on her sofa, Sakura stared out the large window while eating her rice with chopsticks. She wondered where Sasuke was at very moment. Probably far away from Ame as possible.

Why did he not just kill her? He had the perfect opportunity. She was emotionally distressed as well as distracted and picking up his sword and silently killing her was very easily. But he didn't. Did he know that she was going to report him the second he left the room? But after much thinking, Sakura decided that she was going to report him.

She had decided not only earlier today, but years ago that her loyalty was to Konoha. And she would protect it, even if it meant killing her former teammate. Did he trust her not to tell Konoha about his presence? Because Sakura decided as soon as her hangover from tomorrow went away, she would be exposing Sasuke to Konoha. Period.

Scanning the clock, it was nine-forty five. Sakura stood up, and put her bowl in the sink, promising to wash it later. She walked into her bedroom and pulled out a random dress from her closet.

It was black; she didn't feel like wearing color. It was tight, hugging her skin. It came to her mid-thigh. Sakura made sure it was long-sleeves; she really didn't want a cold. There were slits by her waist, exposing some skin. In the distant Sakura heard her door bell ring.

Kaoru.

She was early. It was her attitude; Kaoru was raised to be early to events, unlike Sakura who rushed at the last minute to get everything done. Sakura made her way to answer the door. There stood Kaoru all dressed up and ready.

"Kaoru, I'm so sorry, my shift ended late at the hospital and than Yui asked me to do something for her, and when I finally got home, I made myself some rice because I was starving and than when I finally looked at the clock I only had fifteen minutes to get ready and I-"

"I get it, geez Sakura you ramble on too much. Let me help you with your hair, it's a mess. Gosh Sakura." Sakura smiled. She really did love Kaoru.

Kaoru did Sakura's hair complimenting how pretty it was, so dark and rich. Sakura nervously smiled and agreed and pictured her with pick hair again, which was a long time ago. After arguing for about ten minutes, Kaoru gave up and Sakura just ended up wearing flat boots. She was wearing a short dress and the last thing she wanted was uncomfortable high heels to make her look like a slut. Sakura put on knee high black socks and her black boots. She was in a dark mood today.

After getting ready, the two were finally ready to get to the club. Walking out of the apartment building and into the cold air, the two shivered in their coats. It wasn't raining for the first time that week.

"Where's Gina?" Sakura asked.

"She said she was going to met us at the club. Probably drunk off her feet already." Sakura giggled in agreement.

When to two got reached the club. They found a table and threw their coats and clutches before heading over to the bar.

"I don't see Gina."

"Over there," Sakura turn to face where Kaoru pointed.

Gina was here all right. Drunk by the looks of it, she was smiling like a clown. She was grinding in between two guys who were eying at her lustfully. Where was Ryuu?

Sakura almost smiled. "Poor Ryuu."

"Gina's mad at him. He's mad at her. They'll get over it though."

"They always do," Sakura finished.

Gina had the cutest hubby ever. Sakura was genuinely jealous. Gina was wild at heart and he was the one who kept her on leash. They were polar opposites though. Opposites attract.

"Two Tequila shots," Kaoru ordered for the two.

Sakura eagerly gulped her drink down when she got it. "Another one."

"Whoa Sakura, is something wrong?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to let that bother me and pull me down." Sakura smirked. "Time to forgive and forget." Kaoru returned the smirk as she gulped her drink down.

Kaoru stared at her empty glass for a minute before declaring. "I'm going dancing." Sakura waved Kaoru off.

The second she was gone, Sakura dropped her facade. Great. This wasn't good. She was a two feet away from gallons of alcohol and she needed Kaoru there to remind her that she still had work to go to tomorrow. Sakura ordered another drink. Than another. And one more after that.

"Getting drunk?" A deep voice behind Sakura nearly made her jump.

"Oh Hiro, it's you." Hiro smirked as he sat on the empty stool next to Sakura.

"Pouring out your feelings?"

Sakura nodded. "You have no idea."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Nothing was wrong. She was here simply to get her ass drunk tonight and complain all tomorrow morning about hangovers. It was normal. Nothing was wrong. Except for the fact that she wanted to wrap her fingers around a certain Uchiha's neck and knock the breath out of him when her fist collided with his cheek. Maybe kick him where it hurts.

Sakura turned to face Hiro. The smart, funny rain Shinobi. Hiro, the friendly next door neighbor. Or the friendly guy who lives down the hall. He was an attractive guy, and Sakura didn't deny that. He was a year or two older then herself, and was a ANBU captain. After accidentally spilling out her guts to him once, he was the only person that knew she was a kunoichi. Or course she didn't tell him that she was a Konoha kunoichi, or that she really was in Ame for a mission and not because she was tired of fighting.

Sakura observed his face, taking in the details of his face. He had this really soft looking brown hair and seemed so touchable. And these blue eyes, so memorizing. It was almost like Naruto's. But they were a couple shades darker. Naruto's eyes filled Sakura's head. She would never admit it but, she was secretly jealous of Naruto's eyes. They were so pretty and blue and pretty. Sakura smiled as she pictured Naruto's grin.

"Hiro?" Sakura asked as Hiro leaned his ear closer to Sakura. "Can I ask you a question?"

He turned to her and nodded, slightly curious. "Have you ever truly had faith in someone and they just keep breaking you again and again." Now Hiro was curious.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"And when you finally just throw them out your life, they unexpectedly pop out of nowhere, and you're just so confused. I mean, I used to love him so much, and when I finally put my foot down, he just walks in with an I-don't-care attitude. Oh my god, I really hate his attitude."

Hiro raised his brow. Sakura was drunk. "So who is this guy?"

"Sa-" Sakura stopped herself before she revealed too much and gave Hiro an annoyed look. "Hiro! I can't believe you're taking advantage of my drunkenness. If I find myself naked next to you in the morning, I'm going to punch you all the way to Suna."

Hiro laughed. "Really."

"Really."

"I dare you."

Sakura crossed her arms stubbornly. "I will. Just wait and watch."

"You're so cute when you're drunk Sakura-chan."

"I'm not cute!"

Hiro laughed. Sakura rolled his eyes. Guess she was drunk after all. Hiro looked away and smirked. He got off his stool and whispered something in Sakura's ear, making her blush, before turning around. "I like your dress Sakura-Chan," he said loudly before his body disappeared into the crowd.

The blush was still visible on Sakura's cheek even after he left. "What time is it?" Sakura asked the bartender. "Eleven thirty." Wow, time went by fast. Sakura was about to order another drink, but something turned inside her stomach.

Her ninja reflexes reacted badly. She sensed someone. Someone familiar. Sakura's party/drinking mood disappeared. She quietly stood up, walked over to the table where Kaoru and she dropped their coats. Sakura picked up her coat and slyly slipped out the club.

Her stomach only twisted more. Her walking pace switched to a power walk, before Sakura cursed under breath. She looked around to make sure no one she knew was there. Sakura pushed chakra to her feet and began jumping against the tall buildings.

The wind messed her nicely done hair, but Sakura could care less. She loved the feeling. As she saw her apartment section appear she slowed down and quietly slipped inside the warm building. No one was in the lobby except for the sleeping desk clerk. Poor soul Sakura thought. She almost snickered if it weren't for the feeling that was creeping up her spine. She got into the elevator and pressed her floor number button.

She felt someone. But who. She knew this familiar signature. She felt them somewhere before. Sakura wanted to scream. Just as she was starting to have fun, BAM! Something there was to come and ruin it. As she walked out the elevator and into her apartment, Sakura began getting nervous. Not only was she drunk but she was sensing someone. Maybe this was life's way to telling her that getting drunk is bad.

Throwing her shoes off along her way to her room, Sakura slipped into her bed and covered herself with her thick blanket. Right then, she didn't care if she didn't take of her makeup or brush her teeth or take off her dress. Sakura forced sleep to overcome her, as she slipped into darkness.

* * *

When Sakura woke up that morning, she wanted to slap herself for many reasons.

First, she had one of the worst hangovers in months. On top of that, she had to go to work. There were still ninjas from the outpost that needed to be taken care of. And, if she decided to call in sick, annoying Yui was going to get on her back. It was just easier to agree with whatever Yui said then arguing with her. Sakura sincerely felt sorry for Yui's husband. Sakura, as something Shikamaru would say, plainly described Yui as troublesome.

Sakura rushed into her bathroom and that was when she wanted to slap herself again. She forgot to take off her makeup. Her poor pillows were probably ruined and she looked like a creepy weirdo with her makeup messed up all over her face. Actually, as Sakura studied her face in the mirror, she didn't look like a weirdo. She kinda actually looked sexy.

So after she jumped into the shower and made sure all the makeup was gone and took a painkiller for her raging headache and threw her pillow covers in the washer, Sakura wanted to slap herself again.

After all the memories of last night finally returned to her head, Sakura felt like the worst ninja to date. Last night she remembered she sensed someone. And all she did was fall asleep. What kind of kunoichi was she? It could've been an enemy out there. The smart thing to do was go search for them. But she fell asleep. And she didn't even put a genjutsu around her apartment in case that someone was an enemy and found her.

As she searched her little apartment if anything was missing or wrong or looked different, just in case if that signature she sensed was an enemy and they found her. But everything looked normal. Gulping down water, Sakura walked out of her apartment, making sure that her shoes were on right.

When Sakura walked into the lobby she saw Hiro standing there, talking to someone.

_"No Sakura, you're not cute. With that dress."_

Sakura blushed, than mentally slapped herself for doing so. Hiro caught her eyes for a quick second and probably noticed her heated cheeks and smirked. Sakura wanted to throw something at his head with that smirk on his face. Her headache instantly grew worse. Calming herself down, Sakura walked out the building and ran her way to the hospital, picking up some herbal green tea along the way, which was good for hangovers.

It started raining half way to the hospital, so Sakura was forced to run. That only made her sour mood to plain ugly. Sakura ignored everyone around her. She made her way to the nurse's lounge where her little locker was. The lounge had a couple of coffee tables by the small kitchen and the couches were against the wall facing the small TV that no one ever had a chance to watch. Sakura wondered how old the poor the TV was. There were a couple of nurses here, nurses usually tried to finish their rounds in the morning, and relax in the afternoon.

The room was oddly dark today. Usually, the room was so bright that it sometimes mentally hurt Sakura to be in there. She looked at the bulbs. _Maybe the rain finally got to them_, she thought as she felt sorry for them.

Sakura swiftly ignored all the other nurses by jumping on the corner of the farthest couch. She sipped her headache debased. Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stared out the window. She was going to have to admonish Kaoru for leaving her alone last night.

The uneasiness feeling from last night came back to her. She alerted her ninja senses but she didn't sense any familiar signatures. Sakura wanted to kick something. It was getting on her nerves; this weird feeling. If there really was a ninja following her, and not just her imagination making things up, she was going to punch them to the pulp.

"Why the frown?"

Sakura snapped back into reality. "Oh Kaoru, I was just... hangover."

"Oh." Kaoru smiled as she sat next to Sakura. "I'm sorry for leaving you last night. I forgot that some people can't hold their liquor in well."

"I can! I just didn't want to be sober."

"Haha, you should see Gina. You think you feel bad, but wait until you see her eyes."

Sakura giggled. She didn't respond, neither did Kaoru. The two just sat there in silence. Sakura liking the silence for once, and by the seems of it, Kaoru too. Sakura faced her. Kaoru looked nervous. A little edgy, but alcohol did that to people. But Sakura didn't see Kaoru drink last night. Then she remembered that she left early last night, leaving Kaoru alone with Gina at the club.

"Hey Kaoru, sorry for leaving you in the club last night. I was just tired and-"

"It's okay. I think I was the first one to leave. I talked with Gina for a couple of minutes and left because I-" Kaoru stopped. Sakura looked at her. Kaoru's brown eyes had anxiousness filled to the top. On top of that, she was fidgeting.

Sakura got worried. "Are you okay Kaoru. You don't look... well."

Kaoru sighed. "I'm sorry Sakura. It's just that I feel, weird. Like something's going to happen; for the good or for the bad, I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired."

"Maybe."

_So Kaoru's feeling uneasy too_, Sakura mused. At least she wasn't the only person feeling abnormal. That somewhat calmed Sakura down a little; that she wasn't the only person going crazy. To think of it, the nice man who sold her the green tea was looking somewhat uneasy. Maybe Ame's water was drugged.

"We should get back to work, I didn't even start working today," Sakura broke the silence. Kaoru nodded as the two stalked out of the lounge.

Sakura waved Kaoru bye as the two left for their separate duties. Sakura sulked all the way to her first patient, who noticed her uncomfortable, who didn't attempt to grab her breast. Yui came and told her that she was assigned to the ER for the rest of the morning.

Reluctantly, Sakura walked her way down to the ER. There she spent the rest of her morning treating small burns and injuries. Her first patient was an elder woman who thought she broke her wrist. After sending her to an x-ray, Sakura treated a little boy who accidentally burnt himself while making toast. Shooing the kid away, the x-ray was back and she nicely told the old lady that her wrist was not broken. But no. That stupid old stubborn women was convinced her wrist was broken. Sakura spent a good hour trying to explain that it wasn't. After getting enough prattles from the women, Sakura just, quote "_Fuck the world!_", screamed to kami-sama to kill her, and used her chakra to heal the women not caring if anyone saw her. She had five more patients before her lunch break.

When she walked out the ER, Sakura felt like she could finally breathe again. Her stomach grumbled as Sakura happily made her way to the cafeteria to at last get some food down her stomach.

As Sakura approached the cafeteria she saw a crowd. Curiously, she made her way through it, only to find a phlegmatic looking Kaoru and Koji, Kaoru's boyfriend, in the middle. Sakura's jaw dropped as she realized Koji was on his knees with a ring in his hand. Sakura quickly looked at Kaoru. Poor girl, she looked like she was going to faint. The corners of Kaoru's lips went upward.

"Yes. Yes! YES YES YES YES!" Kaoru screamed as she jumped up and down.

Some women in the crowd ooh'ed and aaw'ed. Some jumped and squeaked like Kaoru. Sakura couldn't have been any happier. Her anger disappeared. Kaoru was getting married. This was amazing; Sakura grabbed another nurse's hands as the two jumped up and down.

Kaoru spotted Sakura as she made her way over. "Sakura, you know that weird feeling I was having tonight?" Sakura nodded. She couldn't find words, and neither could Kaoru. Kaoru pointed at her beautiful ring on her finger. "I'm married."

Gina appeared out of nowhere and the three hugged, until someone shouted to break it up. The crowd of people diffused in various directions. Kaoru and Koji ran off somewhere leaving Sakura alone with Gina.

"Oh my god, Kaoru getting married!" Both girls squealed again.

"Hey Sakura. You're going to be the only one who's not married." Sakura inwardly shrugged. "Or single in that matter of fact. Hey, my cousin from Suna is coming over for the weekend; you would totally be into him."

"No, you are not setting me up with your cousin."

"Oh come on Sakura, don't you feel lonely. Especially when you go to bed at night. Not having someone to snuggle up with."

Sakura smirked. "You're not going to have anyone to snuggle up with if Ryuu found out how you were dancing last night. In between those guys."

"Ryuu already knows."

Sakura gawked at Gina. "And he's still with you."

"I love him." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I swear Gina, one day he's gonna come home with divorce files."

The two laughed until Gina noticed something. "Sakura, I think you're actually happy today." Sakura's eye twitched but didn't reply. She didn't want to argue with Gina at the moment.

After stuffing food down her stomach Sakura went back to her shift. As the day progressed, her headache went away, and she forgot how annoyingly bad her morning was.

"Isn't it so pretty?"

"Yea..."

"And beautiful?"

"Yea..."

"And amazing?"

Sakura snapped. "Goddamn it Kaoru! You asked me that question five times now! The ring is beautiful. Period. Move along. Breathe."

"But it's so hard when my heart's clenching in my chest," Kaoru sighed as hearts flew out of her eyes. What was it, four hours since Koji proposed and Kaoru was still admiring her ring. Sakura too agreed that the ring was beautiful. And expensive. But after listening to Kaoru repeatedly sigh in love was just plain irritating.

Sakura looked out the window. That uneasy feeling was starting to bother her again. She felt like she was being watched. Sakura gulped, not hearing, or really caring, what Kaoru was babbling out now. She closed her eyes and tried to sense anything abnormal. Nothing. Maybe it was her subconscious telling her to get a boyfriend. Sakura almost laughed at the thought.

"Kaoru, I think I'm going to go home now." Kaoru nodded as she turned to another nurse and started gushing out her feelings.

The last thing Sakura heard before walking out of the lounge was Kaoru stating that her bridesmaids were going to be wearing yellow dresses. Sakura walked down the lonely hallway. Weird she thought. Usually the hallways were the busiest places in the hospital. And knowing that if someone poofed in front of her and killed her, no one was going to be there to hear her scream.

Her stomach turned again. Sakura clenched her fists together. As she turned the corner, she realized that this hallway was empty too. Sakura shivered. Wait. Sakura stopped as she noticed a window open. Sakura searched her memory. Hospital rule number three, never open any windows. You never knew who's going to jump out. The urge to walk back to the nurse's lounge was tempting. _Show no fear, you're Sakura Haruno_, Sakura mentally encouraged herself. But in the end, Sakura chickened out as she turned to make her way back to the lounge.

Just as she turn she bumped into someone. "Ow," Sakura groaned as she took a couple of steps back. Sakura stopped blinking and looked up at person she ran into.

Her heart stopped. Or it started beating a hundred miles a second. Either one, both where unhealthy.

Sakura's eyes widened, as her mouth slowly opened. The first thing that ran through Sakura's head was 'Is this a joke?". Was Jashin-sama finally playing cruel jokes on her? Sasuke the other day, Naruto today. Was Kakashi going to poof out of smoke tomorrow?

Sakura stared at Naruto's impassive face. Sakura wanted to lean against something cause she felt like she was going to fall. Naruto jumped down from the wall and stood right side up before Sakura. Sakura just managed to close her mouth and finally look like she wasn't a little kid opening their birthday present.

The first thing Sakura noted different was Naruto's hair. It was longer. The image of the late Yondaime popped into her head. Naruto looked just like his father. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it weren't for the lines on Naruto's cheek. As Sakura stared into his eyes, she didn't find the boisterous attitude. She couldn't find the impulsive, trouble-maker she last saw. Sakura so desperately wanted to gape again but she kept her mouth tightly shut that it was starting to hurt her jaw. He wasn't saying anything, which made Sakura extra nervous. Naruto by now would've pulled her into his arms and gave her a bone crushing hug.

Sakura finally noticed that he was wearing an ANBU outfit. She mentally smiled. Naruto was an ANBU.

"Sakura," his voice was deep. Mature.

Sakura again caught Naruto's eyes. "Come home." If her heart started beating, it definitely stopped beating again.

"W-what?" Sakura stuttered.

"Coma back to Konoha."

Sakura wanted to jump on his shoulders and command him to start heading back to Konoha. For that quick second she was going to say yes. But reality caught up with her emotions. She couldn't go. She still had mission to finish. Just a couple more months and she would be back in Konoha.

Sakura looked away, breaking their eye contact. "I-I can't, I'm sorry." She didn't look at him, but she felt his gaze on her.

Naruto looked at her. Trying to figure anything out. She didn't look at him, she couldn't. He tried searching her face for a facade. But none showed. He tried catching her eyes again, but her head was turned. She couldn't face, she didn't want to. Naruto stood there a moment longer, hoping she would just jump up and say just kidding. But nothing happened. She still stayed faced away from him.

Sakura wanted to look up at him, stare into his deep cerulean eyes, but she knew if she did, she would just crumble and agree with him. _Just go, just go_, Sakura thought. She would break if he stood there any longer.

Just as she thought he was going to come up to her and give her a hug or whisper something in her ear, he walked past her, their shoulders lightly brushing. Tears formed in her eyes at the touch. Sakura stood there for approximately another five second before she turn and followed Naruto. But there was no one there. Did he really just give up?

She eyed the open window. Acting without thinking, Sakura ran to the window and pumped chakra through her legs as she jumped outside. It was an impulsive decision, something Naruto would do. Why didn't he scream and jump or do something reckless, Sakura questioned herself over and over again. Why was he acting so un-Naruto'ish? Sakura didn't know where she was going, but this was a situation where she was truly jealous of Hinata and Neji of their Byakugan. Sakura didn't know what she was going to say to Naruto if she caught up with him or what she was going to do, but her insides told her to go find him.

Sakura was soaked in an instant. The rain fell on her like boulders. It was hard and cold, as she felt a cold coming. But she didn't care that she was drenched in water. She didn't care that she was shivering or if her warm tears were mixing in with the freezing raindrops. She didn't even care if that stupid window was left open back at the hospital. Right now all she focused on was finding Naruto. But she couldn't. It was like he just disappeared in thin air. She didn't feel his chakra signature anywhere.

Sakura didn't know how long she was outside in the cold searching for Naruto but when she knew more and more lights went off in the buildings and when she couldn't stand the cold anymore, Sakura retired home.

No, she corrected herself. Home was Konoha. This was just another apartment room.

* * *

_So far_

_So distant_

_We are._

_We are changed._

* * *

**Last Edited**: August 24, 2010

**Word Count**: 9047

**Next Chapter**: Yellow Bridesmaids' Dresses

**Beta'ed By** : Cant Catch This

With much love,  
-i_m-rite-here_


	4. Yellow Bridesmaids' Dresses

A/N : Thank up so much for the replies everyone. So, I've got some good news and some bad news. I'm gonna go with the good news first. The good news is that I FOUND A BETA! Finally. About time. But the bad news is that school starts in a week. And I'm playing a sport so it's going to be considerably harder to find time to write chapters.

But another good news is that I got a new laptop for my birthday a week ago (August 20). That was also the reason it took forever to get this chapter out (and my poor beta has started school too, god bless your soul). But my parents decided that it would be fun going camping together for my birthday. NOT! I almost got murdered by the mosquitoes and flies and all that stuff. I swear they're attracted to me. I would've gladly accepted my laptop and stayed in the cool air conditioned house, but no we had to go. At least I have a new laptop now.

Okay back to school, which most of us are going back to, I know I'll have lesser and lesser time to update this story, so I'm planning on getting 2-3 chapters out a month. I promise they'll be long.

* * *

**Moving Mountains**

**Chapter Three**

**Yellow Bridesmaids' Dresses**

**

* * *

**

_It hurts_

_To see _

_You hurt._

* * *

Sakura refused to go to work that day. She simply found herself in a emotional wreckage and she refused to show herself like this. Plus, she had a cold, thanks to Naruto, for running outside in the rain last night. And she wouldn't of any help at the hospital if she was sick. She called in sick, groaning at how ticked off Yui will be. Stupid Yui. No one likes you. Sakura remembered the first time she called in sick. Yui gave her the biggest lecture the next day about how missing work was bad. Sakura agreed, if it weren't for the fact that her throat felt like it was on fire.

But Yui's tantrum didn't bother Sakura. At least not today. She unwillingly picked herself out of bed, not bothering about making it, and dragged herself into her bathroom.

She let her crowfoot tub fill up with hot water. Deciding if she should have bubble bath or not, Sakura ended up having one. Bubble baths always made her feel better, no matter how childish it sounded. She striped from her t-shirt and undies and slipped into the warm water.

Her muscles instantly relaxed.

_When Sakura opened the door her apartment she literally slammed her shoes off her feet. She almost ripped the wet nurse dress off of her. Warm tears stung her cold skin as they started pouring rapidly out of her eyes._

_Sakura grabbed the closest thing to her, which was a banana, and threw it somewhere, she heard it hit the wall but she could honestly care less. _

_"Aaaaahhhhh!" _

_Sakura screamed, even though no one would hear her. She screamed because of the pain she was in. She was hurting. And it hurt like hell. How could he just disappear like that? Why? Why why why why why!_

_If Sakura was in Konoha at the moment, she would take her emotions out on the training field. But here, she couldn't. Sakura never felt so trapped. She never felt so hopeless. A week or two before, she ran into a dead man walking and today, she ran into Naruto, and again she couldn't do anything to stop him, just like Sasuke._

_Sakura stomped her way to her bedroom, somewhere along the way, she stripped naked. She grabbed a fresh pair of panties and an over sized t-shirt and slipped them on. She fell into her warm bed and closed her eyes shut. Trying to forget everything. She shivered in her warm blankets_.

She dunked her head, letting the warm water take her. She slipped back out after she ran out of breath. Curling up against the side of the tub, Sakura hugged her knees in comfort, and also because the air around her head was freezing. Sakura slowly sighed as she realized she forgot to turn on the heater. Great now her little apartment was going to be freezing.

Her thoughts went back to Naruto. She wanted to cry out loud. But yet, she was so happy she saw him.

Sakura felt bad. When she felt for Ame, she felt without telling anyone. She saw Ino for the last time, but didn't tell her about the mission. Sakura knew that if she went to Naruto, he could've convinced her to stay, but she didn't want to stay in Konoha. She wanted to get away.

And she planned that when she got back to Konoha, she would be feeling better – but she felt horrible, worse than ever. But she never planned what Naruto would do. What would be his reaction after seeing her after all this time. Sakura didn't worry about that because she still had a couple more months in Ame.

But last night at the hospital, Sakura was taken by surprise. Her annoying gut was right. Naruto probably was here for a mission and it was his presence that she felt and was worrying about. Sakura almost laughed. It wasn't an enemy, it was only Naruto.

Only Naruto.

Sakura frowned again. What was he thinking? Where was he right now? Sakura groaned in frustration and hit the water with her fists before wrapping her arms again around her legs.

Naruto's image filled her head. He changed. Sakura still hadn't decide for the good or for the bad. He looked so... mature. Handsome, if Sakura was willing to admit it. She couldn't picture the little Naruto playing pranks and painting the Hokage's faces on the mountain. He looked older. For the better.

Definitely for the better.

He was taller than her, she remembered she came up to his chin. Sakura smiled. Never once did she think she would be calling Naruto handsome.

Her smile faded. Sakura remembered Naruto's face. He looked so... so stoic. Calm. No goofy grin was visible. He didn't shout, yell or drag unnecessary attention to himself. He was so grown up. And the look he gave her before walking away.

Betrayal.

Sakura yelped. No, she didn't betray him. She could never. She was just following the Hokage's orders. She was on a mission and she needed to finish it before she came home. Tsunade would eat her head if she found out that Sakura came back to Konoha without completing the mission.

And then, he gave her that begging look. He was begging her to come home. And she said no. It hurt to think about it. He looked like a lost puppy. It was painful to see the hurt he held in his eyes after she said no. It hurt so much she turned away. She couldn't face him. Honestly, Sakura didn't even think when she answered him. Her head was blank. Her lips moved on their own. And now she regretted. Think before you act was a wise saying, and Sakura stupidly forgot about it.

The hurt image of Naruto played over and over and over and over and over and over again in Sakura head. She clenched her fists underwater. Where was he now? She wanted to say yes, I'll come back to Konoha.

She sneezed. She had a cold. Perfect. She made an impulsive move last night when she decided that she was going to chase after Naruto in the cold rain. Then what, Sakura asked herself.

What if she found him? What would she say? I'll come with you, No I can't come with you. The thoughts only made her more depressed. Sakura curled up into a ball.

The tears started to come.

Again.

* * *

Kakashi sighed. This was the exact reason why he didn't want to be Hokage. When he was a heartbeat away of being the Hokage when Tsunade was unconscious, Kakashi was seriously planning to fake dropping dead. As the Hokage, you are faced with choices everyday. And being the Hokage, you can't let your personal life blend in with work. Nothing ever ends up great after that. Every Hokage knows that once they put on that hat, they are putting everyone close to their lives in danger. Its not always the 'kidnap and I'll-give-you-the-prisoner-for-this-much-money' gig, its also the danger of the choices they make everyday.

And the last thing Kakashi wanted was to send a comrade to their death bed. He just didn't want that much responsibility, he didn't want the burden of the village bearing on his shoulders; he wasn't that strong. The village was a big place and hard to control. It surprised him how patient Naruto was with his Hokage duty, considering that it was Naruto who was running the village. On top of that, Kakashi was just plain too lazy to be Hokage. It just wasn't his thing.

Kakashi massaged his temples. Naruto was a great Hokage, and Kakashi proudly noted that Naruto had not only surpassed his father, but the Sandrine - the strongest of the Hokage's. To think that someone who held so much power would also be that smart. Not with Naruto.

When Naruto came back from his training, it was obvious something had changed in him. Kakashi didn't know if it was his hair or the way he didn't stick up his thumb and declare that he was going to be the next Hokage. Dattebayo! He ran straight to the Hokage mansion and asked if Sakura was all right. Of course, Tsunade didn't say anything. And Kakashi knew all this because he was in the room at the moment.

Even when Naruto was Hokage, and knowing that he was assigning missions to shinobi's that might or might not come back alive, he didn't run off like the old Naruto would. Everyone knew that Naruto ran on his own set of rules and did things that some people would consider crazy. But he was the Hokage. And people respected him. The respect that he earned, that he worked hard for. And if someone found out that he just ran off like that, some of that respect, especially from the council and higher up Shinobi, would disappear.

This was one emotionally driven impulsive decision. Kakashi would've chased Naruto and dragged him back to the Hokage mansion if it weren't for Naruto's speed and the fact that Kakashi secretly wanted Naruto to go. Sakura was just as important to him as Naruto was. Plus she was his favorite student, so it was normal for him to be worried. But with all that, Naruto's sudden decision to go after Sakura was stupid. If the council really knew where Naruto was at the moment, Kakashi's and Naruto's head would be on the table. Yes Kakashi was lying for Naruto.

When Naruto ordered Shikamaru to bring all files on Sakura's mission, Kakashi spotted a rare determination flicker in Naruto's eyes. He knew Naruto was going to do something like this before Naruto knew himself. Kakashi even lectured him, and I quote "_Think before you act. You're not just Naruto Uzumaki anymore; you're Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage_." But of course, all his students made stupid decisions that only lead to their death. One of them, literally. An image of Sakura with X's as her eyes popped in his head as he cringed. His team, so special.

A faint smile hid underneath Kakashi's mask. Just as he remembered the bell test he gave to his first ever genin team, Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted as the door to the Hokage's office opened and shut with loud thud. Kakashi frowned.

Naruto was back, with no Sakura in sight. Things must've gone bad. But really, what was Naruto going to say to her when he found her? What was he going to do? Was he going to do anything in the first place? Kakashi closed his eyes. It was an impulsive decision.

Naruto was still in his old ANBU uniform, which only meant that he came straight to his office. His hair was drenched in water, and various mud stains smeared across his outfit. Naruto took off the mask and threw it on the small couch that was against the wall to his right. Kakashi examined his student's face. Naruto was trying to pull of a quiet facade, but with Naruto it was obviously that it was all a lie. Naruto looked disturbed. Wretched. Doleful. A tint of rejection shadowed his eyes.

Kakashi sighed. "Go home."

Naruto looked up, clearly surprised that Kakashi was there and at his statement. "Clean up. Rest. You're in no condition to order anyone around."

Naruto didn't respond. He knew that Kakashi was right. He was covered in head to toe with mud, thanks to the slippery rain for making him slip into a mud pile. Something inside him wanted to just laugh out loud at the thought. He was Hokage, but he fell into a mud pile. He probably smelt worse than he looked. The look on Kakashi's face said it all. Naruto nodded and walked out the room to make his way to his home, or really just behind the Hokage mansion.

Every Hokage was required to live there, it was one of the most highly secured place in Konoha. The house itself was pretty big, and was protected with twenty-four hour security by the ANBU. It was big enough to be called a mansion.

When Naruto first saw the place, he was surprised that there was anything behind the Hokage mansion in the first place. He thought there were only trees behind the mansion, but all this time the house was actually hidden beneath the trees. Naruto had thought that the Hokage would residence in the Hokage mansion itself.

But in the end, what fascinated him the most was that it was one of those traditional houses, the ones you found in the time of the first hokage. Naruto just shrugged the thought away after seeing the house repeatedly.

Slowly, Naruto walked to his way to his bedroom. Kicking his shoes off along the way, not caring if he made a mess of the mud. The first thing that entered his mind was a shower. He needed a shower.

Upon entering his house, Naruto slowly walked his way into the bathroom, Naruto striped his clothes off and stepped into his shower and let the cold water waken his senses once again. He felt the mud run down his body and soon, he was med-free, but he still smelled. Grabbing the half empty shampoo bottle, Naruto massaged his head with his fingers as he rubbed the shampoo in his blond hair. He closed his eyes. The water was finally warm, even though he could care less.

Ame was rainy. And gloomy. And wet. He wondered how Sakura managed to live there for almost two years now. Hopefully, in his little visit Naruto hoped that no one spotted him. He made sure not to be seen. Getting to Ame was easy. But finding Sakura was the harder part.

But when he finally did find her, he was in awe. No wonder it was hard to find her. She had dyed her hair black to blend in, The pink hair would give up her identity in a second. Other than her hair, the biggest difference he noticed was her eyes.

They were rain-washed. She seemed so changed, but he could see that the wounds were still not healed yet. It only made him feel worse. It was all his fault. And it killed him to see that she was suffering because of him.

When Naruto originally took off, he was planning to only get a glimpse of Sakura, not actually show his presence. He just wanted to make sure she was doing okay. But his emotions took control of him and in the end, he couldn't help himself. She changed. They all changed. For better or for worse. There was nothing any of them could do but move on. No one could go back in time and change what happened. In the end, no one wanted to.

Naruto promised that he wouldn't do anything reckless as Hokage and look after the village with all his love. But leaving like that was reckless. What if there was an attack in Konoha? He wouldn't have been there to protect it. He let his emotions get ahead of him. Although he didn't care at all. To him, at that moment, Sakura was the most important thing to him. And now it only made him feel guiltier.

As Hokage, your first priority was the village, then your friends. You made decision upon the best for everyone. Not a decision for your own personal reasons. Naruto looked down at his feet. He broke his promise, only to keep another one - to protect everyone that was important to him. Sakura was important. But so was the village.

Naruto pushed the thought away as he realized that the warm water turned cold. He didn't even notice at first, but when a shiver ran up his spine, Naruto reluctantly stepped out of his shower and wrapped a towel around his waist.

He walked up to the sink and wiped the fog off the glass and stared at his reflection. He couldn't help but to wonder. What if one day he was put in a situation like that. If he had to choose between the village or a person important to him. The image of Sakura popped back into his head.

He first saw her smiling, then that smile broke. She still smiled but it was so obviously fake.

Naruto gripped the sink as he looked down.

She said no. She said no to coming home. Naruto wondered if it was because of him and not because of the mission. He could simply order her as Hokage to come back to Konoha. Something inside him told him that, that was abusing his powers. But he asked as a friend. And she said no.

She was hurt.

And it hurt him.

Naruto gritted his teeth. What kind of Hokage was he? He couldn't even protect the ones he loved.

Naruto looked up at his reflection.

Life clearly did suck.

* * *

Sakura woke up the next morning. She put a smile on her face and happily put on her nurse uniform and reluctantly headed her way to the hospital. She regretting saying no to Naruto. She honestly really did. She would've been half way home by now. But no.

She acted without thinking. Smart move Sakura. She was stuck here for another eight moths. Suddenly, eight months seemed longer than ever. She more than ever wanted to go back to Konoha. The urge was almost killing her. She should just jump out the window and make her way over there right this-

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned as she faced her two friends. "How are you feeling? I heard you called in sick yesterday, I was going to make you some soup but Koji took me out for dinner."

"Another thing singles can't do," Gina added.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I can buy dinner for myself."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Wouldn't you be embarrassed sitting alone at a table?"

"Who said anything about being alone?"

Kaoru's eyes widened in delight as she interrupted the pathetic argument. "Oh Sakura, it can't be with the guy you were talking with a night before?"

Gina's eyes lit up too. Sakura's eyes widened in surprised. "W-what?" Sakura stuttered.

"What guy?"

"You know the guy you were with. Don't give me that confused look. You know who I'm talking about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What guy?" Gina asked again.

"Blond hair, I think he had blue eyes, I couldn't see. His back was facing me."

"Oh Sakura's got a lover!" Gina chirped in happiness.

"I thought you said it was rude peeking on people," Sakura defended as she crossed her arms.

"Oh so it's true." The two girls jumped up and down as Sakura rolled her eyes. She was going to have to give them the 'I'm still single' talk all over again.

"He had a nice backside, Sakura," Kaoru tantalized, as faint blush appear across Sakura's cheeks, "I most definitely approve of marriage."

"And I want some godchildren already!" Gina declared.

"Well, than have some babies of your own," Sakura stomped her way away from the two, clearly irritated at the two now. She was still single. And Naruto, who knows, he probably had a girlfriend back home. Hinata probably, she better have properly told him that she liked him, and he better have asked her out to any place other than Ichiraku.

And Ino. Who knew, maybe the Pig finally sucked up her ego and finally admitted she had the hotts for Shikamaru. Sakura already predicted that Neji and Tenten were an item by now. Which left her. She would be the only one single.

But there was always Kiba. Sakura stuck out her tongue in disgust. Kiba was great... as a friend and nothing more. Or Chouji. Chouji was a nice guy. But Sakura knew she could never see Chouji as her boyfriend. She would accidentally call him fat and he would accidentally kill her. There was Lee, who Sakura had a feeling was still faithful to her. He was smart, funny, and strong. Sakura almost hit her head against the wall at the thought of her having little Lee's running around. There was always Sai if Sakura was desperate enough. But the image of Sai being sincerely romantic just kinda scared her. If she was that hopeless in the end, she should just let Gina set her up with her cousin. Sakura cringed at the thought.

Just as Sakura was going to enter the nurse's lounge, Yui, the hag, had pulled her in harshly. Way to be kind. Sakura wondered if the mid aged nurse really wanted friends.

As Sakura eyed the room there were a couple of nurses she recognized as well as some medics and doctors, she didn't spot Gina or Kaoru anywhere. Sakura's curiosity skyrocketed.

The room was tense and quiet. What was going on? No one said anything, they all just stood in their spots. It remained that way until a couple more medical staff walked in before someone broke the silence.

Their voice was loud and ordering, belonging to someone who was obviously was used to giving orders. "You all are here because you've been selected to be working at the various Posts throughout the border with the Fire Country." There were a few gasps. Sakura's face hardened as she remained quiet.

The man continued. "As you all know, there has been an attack on one of your post, Post 5B to be exact. That has greatly affected Ame in more than one way. People have died and families have been broken. We do not know who attacked, but leader-sama has come to accusations that there might be a new dangerous organization out there," more gasps as Sakura tried to swallow the new information, "thus making them a threat to Ame.

"Ame cannot just wait to be attacked," the man paused as he looked down at the scroll he was holding, "Instead of having a couple of strong posts, we are planning to have more several smaller posts. That requires more Shinobi and medical staff."

So she was going to be shipped out. Sakura was a ninja, and not stupid. Ame was preparing for the worst. And the worst was war. Did that mean there was going to be another war? Sakura inwardly cringed. She didn't want war.

The man continued to say things that only went right out Sakura's other ear. She was too busy thinking what would happen if there was another war. Never did she once think that there would be another war this fast. Maybe in another couple of decades a war could break out.

No body, no country, no village could afford another war this fast. It's only barely been two years since the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Most villages were still healing from it. Ame was one of them.

That only meant that Ame was going to push their genins to become chunins, their chunins to become jounins, their jounins to become ANBU, and their ANBU to become even stronger.

Sakura must've not responded the right way for Yui to glare at her like that. She snapped out of her head and took the scroll that Yui handed her. Sakura looked around and saw the others opening their scroll. She did the same.

Blah, blah, blah, _you are to be a registered nurse at Post 3A_, blah, blah, blah, _your team will leave in one week since receiving this scroll_, blah, blah, blah, _your stay there still remains at a unknown amount_. Sakura stopped reading. This 'mission' was going to interfere with her regular mission.

Sakura looked up at the man who was talking before. He was tall and skinny with sharp dark eyes. He was now whispering something to the guy standing next to him. Sakura pushed her brows together in suspicion. What was going on? They were clearly onto something.

Inner Sakura began screaming out curses at the rain Nin. But Sakura kept her mouth shut. She couldn't argue back. It wouldn't look good.

Just as Sakura was about to look away, the tall man caught her eye sight and help them for a quick second. Was that accusation she saw in his eyes.

Something fishy was going on here.

Something fishy most definitely.

* * *

"Do you think it was a smart idea, Hanzo?"

No reply.

"If we keep sending out everyone we think are suspected as the spies, then there won't be anyone left to defend Ame if there's an attack. Plus we're not even sure if there are spies here."

"We can't hastily decide something yet," Hanzo finally spoke. He was a suspicious man, and yet he eyed his most trusted adviser in an impeaching manner.

"Yes Hanzo. As your adviser and friend, I admit this was a stupid decision."

Hanzo didn't reply. A part of him wanted to keep listening but another part of him just wanted to throw his friend right out the room. He was getting a headache from all this nagging.

"I am only acting in the best interest of Amegakure." That shut the friend up. Hanzo's voice was sharp. His friend caught up as he bowed his head and left the room, leaving Hanzo alone.

After all these years, Hanzo still couldn't come forward and truly trust Jai, his friend since birth. Most people would call him a loser for that. I mean, what were friends for? They were there for secrets, and with secrets, you needed trust.

But Hanzo was grown up by the saying you could never truly trust anyone but yourself. His father had been in the council, and he was strict. Hanzo never complained though. He completely agreed with everything that his father believed in. Kids in the academy would ignore him because of his cold and secretive attitude. Jai was the only one who was by his side all along, and it confused Hanzo like hell. Jai was probably the only person, other than himself, that he trusted the most. But even with that, there was barely any trust at all - even though Jai trusted Hanzo completely.

A part of him concluded that it was because he grew up without a mothers' love; that was what everyone would say. Hanzo's mother had died when he was merely just one year old. From all the pictures he observed when he was younger; it occurred to him that his mother was the one who wore her heart on her sleeve.

That was what his father told him. His mother had cheated on his father with another man. She was going to run away with Hanzo out of Ame with her lover but she suddenly died. Many people silently accused of his father for killing his mother. But with all the investigations, no one ever found proof, and it was stated that Michari Yuugi was murdered by an anonymous nin.

People never forgot her smile. Hanzo noticed how people often gave him a sad smile, seeing his mother's image in him, when he allowed himself to be shown in public (which was a long time ago). It only disgusted him. His mother cheated on his father. She was weak. She let emotions get in the way. And in the end, she died.

Feelings would just somehow get in the way and ruin the fight. It would lose the battle. Hanzo knew that. And that was the one of the many reasons for his behavior and actions.

He had his most trusted advisers gather a list of names of whoever moved into Ame in the past two years. He had suspected that the spy, whoever it was, had to be acting as a Rain Nin because that would be the smartest way to spy on Ame's activities.

Of course, this was Hanzo we were talking about. Not only was he going to ship out suspicious shinobi's, but medical staff and anyone involved with the ninja ways. And the civilians that were on the list were going to be secretively watched by the ANBU.

At first the council was reluctant about this, but they agreed in the end. If there really was a spy in Ame, they had to be caught immediately. Plus, Hanzo was curious to find the spy. For which village were they spying for?

Hanzo knew his actions suggested that they were preparing for war. He hated to remind himself that they were still cleaning up from the last war, and any recent upcoming war was to be avoided. But the most important thing right now for Ame was to heal up and restore their strength.

* * *

Naruto's head hurt.

Being Hokage was definitely troublesome at times.

When the thought finally hit him, it hit him hard. And it got him all confused. How come he didn't know about Sakura's mission? When he ordered Shikamaru to go get the files, Shikamaru had groaned, muttered something along the lines of 'what a drag' and left the room.

When Shikamaru came back into the Hokage's office, Naruto was gone, Kakashi was the only one in the room. Naruto decided that he didn't want to read the mission details. That information wasn't that important to him at the moment. The only piece of information that Naruto found important was the fact that Sakura was in Ame. Kakashi warned him, but Naruto just ignored his former sensei and made his way to Ame.

It wasn't until the morning he walked back into the Hokage office that he sat down and read the mission details. What he found out was that Sakura was sending monthly reports for the past twenty two months. And it was only a couple nights ago that Naruto found out about this.

There were only a limited amount of people that knew about the mission. Tsunade wasn't in Konoha anymore, Shikamaru was just too plain lazy to be involved, and he doubted that anyone else knew.

Except for Kakashi.

After hunting down Kakashi and making him explain, Naruto finally knew everything.

Tsunade, when she was still Hokage, had ordered that Naruto was not to be known of Sakura's mission for unknown reasons. She probably knew that Naruto was going to runoff like he did. And after Naruto took over as Hokage, Sakura would be sending her monthly reports to Kakashi. Never had Naruto ever felt so uninformed. Sakura could've been sending crucial information that Naruto might've needed before, but no, Kakashi didn't felt that it was important enough to tell him.

A knock was heard on the door as Naruto groaned as he knew exactly who it was. He rubbed his temples and before he could say enter, a figure stormed into room. They eyed the paperwork piling on the desk and put their hands on their hips.

"Na-"

"Hokage-sama," Naruto interrupted.

They growled. "Whatever! I don't know where you've been for the past two days but do you know how much bitching the council- no, do you know how much bitching Koharu did?"

Naruto groaned again. How much longer was Koharu going to live? She just refuses to die, Naruto mentally thought. She was the only former member from Team Tobirama to still be living. Scratch that. She was probably the only one from that time period in history to still be alive.

"That old hag's probably over two hundred years old and- HEY! Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes I'm listening to you Akane."

"Good, because there is a very large pile of paperwork two inches away from your head. Now get to it!"

Naruto hit his forehead on the table. He didn't want to do paperwork. He was too busy thinking about Sakura's situation, um mission. But he grabbed a pen and started on the paperwork, just to make Akane (shut up) happy. He swore, that woman loved to see him in agony and pain.

Akane was his assistant for about a month now. She had dark brown hair that was tied up in two pony tails that reminded Naruto of Tsunade and sharp green eyes, almost like Sakura's. But her temper was exactly like Sakura's. One slip and you were thrown against the wall and probably would end up in the hospital for a week. Naruto learned the hard way.

But in the end, regardless how short tempered or loud she was, she was a good assistance, and Naruto admitted that she saved him from some sticky situations, especially the ones with the council.

Akane threatened as she spoke again. "Are you falling asleep?"

Sometimes, Akane's attitude reminded him of a mother. "Yes mothe-I mean ma'am."

"Were you about to call me mother?"

Naruto smiled as he scratched the back of his head. "Of course not Akane. You're not my mother."

Akane sent Naruto another threatening look as he focused nothing but on his paperwork.

* * *

"What!"

"You heard me."

"But, but, but you can't go. I just finally picked out the official color of the bridesmaids dresses, yellow by the way."

"I'm sorry Kaoru, I asked Yui if I had to go, but she said that if I had any complains about the mission than I would just have to go to the leader-sama and complain," Sakura explained.

"Well go than. Tell them your best friend's wedding is in month," Gina stubbornly said as she crossed her arms.

"I wish I could." Sakura hugged Kaoru. "I'm so sorry. I never asked for this."

"It's okay, I think Koji might be more upset than me though."

Sakura giggled. "I'll make it up to you though, I promise."

"When are you leaving?"

"Three days."

"WHAT! Three days, that's...so soon."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed.

Sakura was genuinely sorry. Over the time she was residing in Ame, Kaoru and Gina had become really close to her. Almost like sisters. It was only normal for the three to be upset that Sakura had to be leaving.

"Did you start packing?" Kaoru's voice interrupted Sakura from her thoughts. She sheepishly shook her head as Kaoru slapped her forehead. "You should start packing."

"Yeah, I just don't have the time."

"You only have three days left."

Sakura didn't respond, but just stared at her lap. She glanced at Gina, who was oddly quiet. Sakura faced down again. Gina was loud, annoying, loud, opinionated, and loud. But at times, she was even quieter than Hinata. Sakura had promised herself that when she met Gina and Kaoru, she wouldn't get too attached to them, because eventually, she was going to have to say goodbye to them.

But before Sakura had eight months to prepare. This was the worst mission ever Sakura concluded. It was even worse than trying to find the Daimyo's wife's cat. Sakura smiled at the thought.

Team seven was sent on countless missions to find Tora, Madam Shijimi's cat. After the third time, Sakura finally understood why the cat tried to run away so many times. But in the end, Madam Shijimi still would not realize why the cat didn't have as much affection as she gave to her Tora.

"Hey Sakura, why are you smiling like that?"

Sakura looked up to Kaoru. "Oh um, I just remembered that I left the gas on in my kitchen. I think I should go now." Sakura waved bye to the two before slipping out of Kaoru's apartment. Sakura lived just two floors below her, which was how the two first met.

Three days left.

Sakura wondered what she would do. Go on with her everyday life, or throw a goodbye party? She would most likely just end up in the club with Gina and Kaoru.

Then the thought hit her. How was she supposed to tell Konoha about this mission? Sakura sighed. Her night just got more complicated.

* * *

What day was it? Tuesday, Wednesday, maybe it was Friday. Sakura honestly didn't know anymore, she didn't have her bright yellow calendar to remind her. All she knew what that she was residing at outpost 3A for a little more than a week now.

And it sucked.

In the end, after she packed all of her necessities - Sakura found out she was assigned to stay at the outpost for at least six months - and officially moved out of her small apartment. She went wedding shopping with Kaoru, even though she wasn't going to be at the wedding. And her last day in Ame, Gina had literally dragged her to a club by her hair.

But the raging headache, after all the shots Sakura had, wasn't the hard part. It was informing Konoha about her departure from Ame that was harder. She had strictly wrote that they wouldn't be able to contact her in Ame anymore, and instead, contact her through her summoning.

As Sakura took a couple more steps, she felt tiny raindrops hit her cheek, and before she knew it, it was raining hardcore. Running the remaining way to the medical tent, Sakura was drenched by the time she reached the medical tent.

Sakura looked around, there was one medic fast asleep on one of the cots, and another two nurses, Sakura recognized the blond one out of the two, who were gossiping and giggling in whispers, which was not really quiet at all. Sakura decided not to go to them, as she learned from experience that the two were Ame's top gossipers. Sakura sighed, and she really did think that the two must've been upset leaving Ame, away from all that gossip, but no. Somehow, in the rainiest loneliest outpost ever, the two managed to keep themselves entertained. And by the looks of it, the of the field medic, currently away scouting, was sleeping with a ANBU captain. Sakura managed not to roll her eyes. But it was true. There was a field medic that was sleeping with a captain; their moans of pleasure from the tent next door kept Sakura awake all night and file a complaint on _'disturbing noises at night hours'_.

It was a fairly small outpost, Sakura inwardly mused dryly. Dirty rumors and unimportant gossip spread like lightning. If anything worth gushing about happened, everyone at the post would know of it by noon. This outpost was not as big as the one that was ambushed. There were a couple of ninjas, a couple of medics, and other couple of people that really didn't need to be here. At least Sakura thought they really didn't need to be here.

Word had it, that there were around fifteen new outpost opened. And it was the most stupidest idea ever. What was the leader thinking when they decided to send at least a good fourth amount of their shinobis outside the village. Either they were purposely trying to make them leave the village or the leader was simply dumb and not a good leader. Sakura had thought over this numerous times, especially at night where she didn't get much sleep thanks to the two idiots having sex next door. She pushed the thoughts out of her head, as let out a sigh. This whole mission was onerous.

Sakura desperately wanted to get out of here. And she thought Ame was boring. Heck, Ame was boring, but she had Gina and Kaoru and Hiro to keep her company. Plus her job at the hospital as a nurse was more demanding than her job as a medic at the hospital in Konoha. Here, in the most boringest, loneliest outpost ever, the days were long and fruitless.

Never had she ever in the past months wanted to go back to Konoha this badly. She much rather wear the pretty, cough ugly cough, yellow bridesmaids dresses that Kaoru picked out than stay another second here. But it was no use. She was to stay in the this outpost until she got a message back from Konoha for what to do. Sakura crossed her fingers, for the best.

Just as Sakura was about to take off her jacket, a loud boom shook the ground, as Sakura fell face front to the ground. The first thing that came to mind was 'earthquake! everyone get under a table'. There was another loud explosion, as the other half of the medic tent blew up. Subconsciously, Sakura threw her arms up to protect her face as she flew back from the force of the explosion and hit her back against a tree.

Sakura felt pain run up and down her back as her arms burned. She heard screams from the others as she tried to control hers.

There was no earthquake... the outpost was under attack.

Sakura vaguely realized that this was going to be the second outpost attacked in the month. Before Sakura could stand up and find the people that were behind the attack, another explosion filled her ears.

Not thinking twice about her cover, Sakura sent green chakra to her hands as she quickly healed her bleeding arms and other minor bruises.

There were shouts and screams coming from every direction. Never had the outpost been this loud. It almost hurt her ears.

Sakura's ninja reflexes kicked in as she pumped chakra to her feet as she began running. She looked right and left for someone amiss, but all she found was more people falling to the ground in pain. She saw an Ame nin fly past her. By the time the nin hit the ground, Sakura realized that he was dead.

Every thing's happening so fast, Sakura thought. She scanned the area again, trying to find the attackers. But no one. Just more explosions.

Another explosion boomed throughout the outpost. Sakura sensed a familiar chakra signature behind her, as she quickly turn. Several kunais were aimed at her head, as Sakura quickly ducked them. She reached for her back... "Damn!" Sakura hissed. She didn't have her kunai holster. As Sakura further realized, she didn't have any kunais on her, no any other weapon.

Muttering another curse under breath, Sakura sent chakra to her fist as she punched a attacking nin, as they flew back. Sakura chuckled. _A broken jaw at least_, she mused. Oh it felt good to use her fists again. How long has it been? Sakura was about to smile if it wasn't for that vaguely familiar voice behind her.

"Sakura-chan?"

Before Sakura could turn back, she felt a sharp electric pain run down her neck as then darkness welcomed her.

* * *

_These strange feelings,_

_What are they?_

* * *

**Last Edited** - August 27, 2010

**Word Count** - 8116

**Beta'ed By** - Can't Catch This

With much love,  
-_im-rite-here_

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A/N: I would love to answer all your questions, but I can't with some because I end up giving away too much. But hopefully, some your question will be answered after reading this chapter. And to the kind viewers that asked...

**Sakura doesn't know Naruto's Hokage? What?  
**

I guess she doesn't, at least that much I'll reveal to you... so far.

**What happened to Konan? I thought she was leader of Ame.  
**

Well she was, but not anymore. Information on her whereabouts will be answered in upcoming chapters. I promise.

**The story's going at a slow pace?  
**

Yes, I guess it is. Originally, when I first came up with the idea, I was planning on making this story around 40 chapters. Yes, I know that's long, for/from me at least, considering how lazy I am. But now I'm doubting myself that I could even write all that, and probably this story will end up being around 35-40 chapters long, depending on how many things I'm going to add or change from the original outline.

I keep getting new ideas about this story everyday, and I'm going to have lesser time to write it (curse you school). So, yeah, I would consider this story going at a slow pace, but because I'm planning on not to rush it. But the story line will start picking up in a few chapters.


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